Friends To The End!
by Relaxing Pikachu
Summary: It's been a long time, but this fic has finally been updated. Check the author's note for more info.
1. Roderick's Late Morning Challenge!

Welcome back everyone. It's me again with a brand new story. This particular story is going to be a sequel to What It Takes To Be The Best! The story is pretty much continuing where that one left off, only it's later in the summer, Twister and Reggie have been an official couple for a while, and Clio won't physically appear in this fic, only mentioned at times.

The four friends - Otto, Reggie, Twister, and Sam - are having problems, and it's up to Roderick and his new friend to get the group back on good terms, but will he and his friend be successful in their task, or will it be a waste of time? This story will also get into Twister and Reggie's relationship somewhat, because of all the conflict amongst the four, so please be patient if they aren't really shown all that much.

Like I say for all of these, anything shown in _italics_ indicates that it is a flashback (only for short sequences, anyway). Any dialogue using single quotation marks indicates that the character is thinking, unless used in a grammatically correct fashion. Anything with an asterisk by it means that there is a note about it at the end of the chapter.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 01: "Sleeping is boring!" Roderick's Late Morning Challenge!

It had been a few weeks since the school year had ended for Otto, Reggie, Twister and Sam, and all had passed their respective grades. Twister and Otto worked very hard to get their marks up to "acceptable" levels. Otto was having the most trouble with Spanish – which Twister helped him with since their teacher had appointed him to – and Twister got help from Reggie with his Geometry and help from Sam with his Biology. He did manage to get his Geometry mark up to a C-, but his Biology grade, unfortunately, remained a D, just not an incredibly low one.

As for Clio, she was actually spending part of her summer vacation in Hawaii, much to Otto's despair, with Tito's wise nephew, Keoni, and his friend, Leilani. "Rowdy" Roderick was just as hyper and happy as ever, which was understandable since he was spending some of his vacation with the Rodriquez family, while his mother, father, and younger brother were visiting family in Mexico. The young boy didn't want to visit this particular time since he wanted to spend it with Twister and the others in Ocean Shores. Besides, his family visited frequently enough. He knew that they would probably visit again in the fall – for his birthday or Día de los Muertos – or either in December for Christmas.

"Sleeping is boring, Twist; let's go, let's go!" Roderick called out while anxiously shaking the older boy. "We have stuff to do today!"

The boy started to stir, as he yawned out, "What?" He turned over to face a slim boy wearing a backwards blue Dodger's baseball cap, a white T-shirt with faint, thin vertical blue stripes, and a pair of dark-blue jeans. "I'm still sleepy," he told him groggily.

"You sleep _all_ the time!"

"You don't sleep enough," Twister retorted while turning back over. He yawned deeply. "It's still summer vacation."

The soon to be 14-year-old boy thought for a moment, trying to come up with a way to awaken his life-long friend, who was snoring soundly once again. A crafty grin then spread across the young Mexican boy's face. "Wake up! C'mon Twist, wake up!"

Twister stuffed his head underneath his pillow. "I need more sleep," he groaned in fake agony.

"But we're going to hang out with Reggie today," he answered back in sing-song.

That had gotten his attention. Twister sat up abruptly, all signs of his being sleepy completely gone, and his long disheveled red hair falling loosely into his face. A goofy, dreamy grin appeared on his freckled face. "Reggie?"

'I _knew_ that would work!' Roderick inwardly praised.

"Gotta get ready, gotta get ready," Twister muttered as he jumped out of his bed at record speed.

"It's about time!" Roderick laughed as Twister went through his dresser drawers to find something to wear. He finally decided on his white t-shirt, his blue muscle shirt to wear over it, and a pair of long khaki shorts.

Twister and Reggie had been officially a couple for a few weeks now, which was right before school let out for summer break, but the two didn't make it public knowledge until after their victory over the Lasers at the Shore Shack while celebrating their win. It was a very close match. The Lasers only lost by one point, Reggie making the goal right before the buzzer. The two actually getting together was a difficult task, especially since both had been holding back what they truly felt.

For Twister, he had had feelings for Reggie for quite a while, and would try his best to repress them by making excuses. As for Reggie, she was starting to grow attracted to him, but after his sweet gesture by taking her to the Pier and the amusement park after the both of them had had that bad confrontation with Otto – he was pretty stressed out at the time and took it out on his friends – she started to see him in a whole new light.

When Ray found out about it, he looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "No, no, no," he told the two when they'd finally revealed the news. He knew Twister was a good kid, but the idea of Reggie dating was still a bit too extreme for him to take in. He, eventually, came around and accepted the fact that his daughter was gaining an interest in stuff other than writing or sports, and thanks to Tito's lecturing and wisdom, explaining how "the baby bird will soon leave the nest, and that Reggie was almost ready to take flight". Ray came to terms with the idea, partially.

Otto was quite indifferent and never gave a real opinion on it. He avoided the subject as much as possible, seemingly. Sam, on the other hand, was glad for his two friends, because they seemed happy. It wasn't that big of a surprise for Sam, as far as Twister had been concerned, since he'd figured long ago that Twister had a crush on Reggie. Twister didn't act as goofy when around her now, nor did he find reasons to randomly talk about her whenever she wasn't, which was a bit of a relief for Sam who seemed to always witness this side of Twister. Sam was a bit surprised, though, over Reggie's reciprocating the feelings, but that was because he'd never had an inkling of Reggie having any romantic feelings towards Twister.

Clio, Trent, Trish, and Sherry all reacted differently. Clio was happy for Reggie, yet surprised that she would want to date her cousin of all people when there were more, what she considered, suitable boys around, but she left it alone since Reggie obviously saw something that she just couldn't.

Trent was obviously a bit jealous over Twister when the news had reached him, and he pretty much thought in the same way as Clio in some ways. He wanted to know what Reggie saw "in Twister Rodriguez". Trent felt that _he_ was a much better choice for the girl than Twister, but he could never come right out and say it, as it made him feel a bit selfish. It was worse enough that he'd lost his chance with the girl, whose attention he'd been trying to get for a long while, but he didn't want to jeopardize their already excellent friendship.

The handsome New Zealander wasn't the only guy who was slightly envious over Ocean Shores' latest couple. A certain Rodriguez brother was as well. Lars was slightly jealous. His baby bro had taken his "potential girlfriend" away from him, but even he realized that thinking of Reggie as a potential girlfriend was pushing it. He had pictured himself with the girl, but knew that realistically it could never happen because of their history, but Twister was the last person he thought of as far as a boyfriend for Rocket Girl.

Trish was actually secretly glad that Twister and Reggie had managed to get together. She had started suspecting Twister's liking for Reggie, but what had confirmed it was when he and Reggie were interviewing them before the surf competition at Spray Beach. His mannerisms and somewhat snarky vibe he seemed to give off towards Trent whenever he would speak to Reggie, had tipped her off, but never mentioned her suspicions to neither Reggie or Sherry.

With Sherry, she just squealed, ready to gossip off the news to anyone within earshot range. Of course, after the reality of the situation had sunk in, even _she_ found it strange. She figured that if Reggie would've dated anyone, it would've been Trent. She would constantly ask the wavy-haired girl "why Twister" and "why not Trent". Reggie could never give her a straight answer, though. She seemed unsure herself.

Raul and Sandy were delighted that the two had gotten together, Sandy especially. She'd always liked Reggie, and saw her as a daughter anyway. Also a plus in the twos' favor, was that "she and Mauricio" got along well enough.

"It's cool how you and big sis are a couple now."

"Yeah, I can't believe that _I _have a girlfriend!" He laughed a bit as he looked himself over in the mirror while combing his hair. "When I was a kid, girls sorta scared me." He slightly blushed in embarrassment.

"Why were you scared of girls?" asked Roderick in perplexity. "Haven't you been friends with Reggie for practically forever?"

"Well, yeah, but girls chasing you is scary."

"Girls used to _chase _you?"

"_Duh_!" He put down his comb, finally satisfied. "Remember Otto, Reg, the Squid, and me had a band called 'No Worries'. The fans of the group used to chase me because they thought I was cute – well, that's what Reggie told me – and girls like that are scary."

Roderick could only laugh hilariously at the situation as he imagined a younger Twister being bombarded by a bunch of rabid fan girls. "Dude, some guys would _kill_ for that kind of attention!"

He shuddered. "Well, _those_ guys can _have_ it! I'm glad Reg isn't like that. I'm glad Trish and Sherry aren't either. Those two are pretty cool for girls too."

"Enough talking about girls, let's _go_! I don't want to spend the rest of my vacation sitting around the house! I have a little under a week before my family comes back."

"Alright, alright." The boy stifled back a yawn and stretched his long, lanky arms. "I'll get ready to go. Besides," he grinned, "I can't _wait_ to see Reggie again."

"What about Otto? And Sam?"

"Yeah, yeah...them too," he added on with a nervous laugh.

The reply didn't seem very compelling to the younger boy. To him, Twister was definitely hung up over Reggie, and that was the main, and possibly only, thing on his mind.

Twister hurried himself along, such as showering, dressing, and grabbing a bite to eat before leaving, all of the things Roderick had done earlier while Twister was snoozing. After they had finally gotten everything in order, the two headed out, bidding Sandy and Raul a farewell, whom of which were also about to head out for the day...


	2. Time To Hit The Beach!

Welcome back everyone. Thank you for your reviews. I really appreciated them. I was surprised to see as many as I did when checking my e-mail. Just so you all know, I will be updating this fic every week unless said otherwise. If it isn't updated on Monday, I'll just update that Friday. As for why I didn't update last week, quite a few things happened to me. On Monday, we had tornado watches and a few storms, but none too bad with a lot of lightning, just a lot of rain. Because of the rain, our house flooded downstairs (where my room is) and I didn't get the chance to update like I'd wanted to.

All week, my family and I have been cleaning up because of it, and just recently finished today. When I _was_ finally able to run my computer again (I use my parents' to get onto the net now) it wouldn't boot, and found out that it had a very bad virus and couldn't retrieve the files. Since I made you all wait, I'll update another chapter this Friday or Saturday to make up for missing out last week.

Now that that's out of the way, I guess I should say something about this chapter. In all honesty, there really isn't much to this chapter. It's actually quite short. Twister and Roderick meet up with Otto and the others, and they all try to decide on how they should spend their day.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 02: "Those waves look juicy!" Time to Hit the Beach!

"Reggie, Sam!" Roderick called excitedly, as he ran over to the Rockets' driveway, Twister trailing behind him tiredly, still trying to rub the sleep away from his eyes.

Sam, still a bit husky and shorter than both Otto and Twister, was wearing his trademark yellow t-shirt along with a pair of faded blue jeans and white sneakers. Reggie – who was tall, sleek, and thin – was wearing a dark-pink tank top, a pair of loose-fitting white sweat pants, and sandals.

"Hey Rod, hey Twist," Sam greeted back.

"It's about time you two finally woke up," laughed Reggie. "Sam and I have been out here talking for a good while now."

Twister grinned goofily as he made sure his red and yellow striped cap was on just right. "W-well, you know how I like to sleep in late," he slightly yawned.

The girl rolled her eyes humorously. "_Don't_ I..."

"Hey, where's O-man?"

Reggie snorted and crossed her arms in slight annoyance after Roderick mentioned her younger brother. "He said he would come down in a bit to hang, but he has no concept of time, just like Twister."

One habit that Reggie found irksome, was when people were late. She, herself, was "Miss Punctuality". Even though Twister was never usually very punctual, he was generally on time for things that counted.

"Speaking of hanging," Sam interjected, "what do you want to do today, Roderick? We've done a lot since you've been here, like how we all went mountain-biking yesterday. We even played baseball with some of the others, and that's not something we do very often."

He thought for a moment. "How about an all-day surf session? I never get sick of surfing, especially since I'm getting better at it!"

Twister gave him a thumbs up. "All right!"

"Fine by me," Sam stated plainly.

"You can count me in!" Reggie nodded.

"Are you sure you're up to it, bro?" a dull voice asked from behind the four.

They all turned to see a semi-short boy (compared to Twister) with thick dreads, a headband, a pair of sunglasses with dark-green lenses, a bright yellow T-shirt, and long beige shorts.

"Ottoman," Roderick exclaimed, "you're finally here!"

"Of course." He gave the boy a forced smile. "I wouldn't just leave one of my best bros hanging." Otto ruffled the younger boy's hair. "Bros don't _ditch_ bros."

Even though he wasn't addressing him or talking to him, Twister felt as if the comment was being directly aimed at him. Ever since he and Reggie had officially announced their being together, Otto seemed to be more distant with him and seemed to have no desire at all to close the gap that had grown quite a bit between them.

Roderick had picked up on how distant the two boys had been back during the surf competition. Due to this, Roderick was insistent on doing group activities in hopes of reconciling the two boys, but Otto would act as if Twister wasn't there, and would usually only talk with Sam, and _may_be give one-worded responses to Twister. As for Reggie, he seemed slightly different, but would talk to her voluntarily without it sounding _too_ forced.

"So, we're all going surfing!" the boy said happily while putting his hand out for the group's signature handshake. Everyone joined in. "Let's go right now!"

Reggie nodded. "Yeah, lets get our blades, skate up to the Shore Shack to grab our boards, and then head down to the beach."

With that, everyone – including a _very_ reluctant Otto – went back to their homes, changed into their swim clothes, strapping on their blades, minus Roderick who decided to ride his bike, and Twister making sure he had his video camera with him. With everything set, the group headed off to Rocket Beach...


	3. Otto's Test of Patience!

Welcome back everyone. I'm sorry for the late update, but for those who did read the previous chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I felt that it was pretty "bleah" to me.

Anyway, for this chapter, the gang gets their surfing underway, but Twister and Reggie's playful nature starts to annoy Otto. He must try his best to keep his cool, but the question is, will he actually manage to do so?

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 03: "Those two are _really _starting to get on my nerves!" Otto's Test of Patience!

The group of five made their way up to Rocket Beach, Otto still a bit tense and annoyed over the fact that he had to spend the day – once again – with his sister and Twister. Sure the two didn't act "lubby-dubby" or in a mushy fashion, but they were _still _a couple. His so-called "best bro" preferred hanging around his older sister than with him. The "traitor" had abandoned him for his sister's company. Twister had been ignoring Otto, unintentionally, for a good while since he seemed to want to hang around with Reggie more, even before the two had officially hooked up. That was Otto's main beef with Twister, and it still was.

Twister stared out at the sea, while shielding his eyes from the bright sun. "Those waves look mighty juicy, guys."

"These waves'll be all yours, Ottoman!"

Otto looked over at Roderick, who seemed to have an undying faith in him. "Of course," he responded smugly.

Roderick started growing restless again. "What are we waiting for? Let's hit those waves!"

The five heaved their boards overhead, and ran towards the salty sea. They dropped their boards in, and started paddling to a nice, unshoobiefied area, which was a bit difficult since the place _was_ loaded with tourists, but not overwhelming. Otto was the first to paddle out and catch a wave, showing off as usual, but it was his normal kind of showing off, not his extreme, going to run himself ragged type of showing off.

Twister filmed the boy, making sure that he had his underwater housing to prevent its getting damaged. "Man, Otto is so good!" He lowered his camera and sighed discouragingly. "I'll _never_ be as good as Otto."

"Aww, don't sweat it Twist. You're good in other ways."

"Yeah right, Reg." He raised an eyebrow up at her. "What am _I _good at."

"Well, you're great with your video projects, you're a _genius_ when it comes to building sand castles, you're good at singing, and you can shred Madtown better than anyone I know!"

Twister laughed shortly. He gave her a look of amusement while pointing to a certain dread-haired boy who was currently performing a perfect Aerial. "_Any_one?"

"Well, almost," the girl corrected, splashing Twister.

"Hey!" He splashed her back as best he could while holding onto his camera, but he just ended up falling off of his board, which caused Reggie to laugh hard at him. Sam and Rod just watched the two, quite entertained at their hi-jinx.

Otto paddled up to Roderick and Sam, also seeing the laughing splash fest going on between Reggie and Twister. 'Those two are _really_ starting to get on my nerves!'

"It's a little weird," Roderick admitted, "but isn't it cool how happy Twist and Reg are?"

"Yeah, it was bound to happen sooner or later, even though Reg surprised me. I always knew that Twister liked her as more than a friend."

"He _told_ you?"

"No way!" Sam lifted his glasses, like a university professor, or a person about to explain how he came to the solution of a difficult equation. "Pure observation and speculation."

Tiring of the conversation, Otto pretty much yelled, "Are we going to surf or what?"

Hearing her brother's impatient cries, her focus was finally diverted away from Twister. "Oh, yeah. Surf. Ready Twist?"

"Sure thing, Rocket Girl!" He climbed back onto his surf board and has his camera gripped in his right hand securely.

"How about we make a game of this?" Roderick suggested. "Most impressive trick without messing up wins and...has to um...well, who cares," he laughed, "let's just go."

Sam shook his head while staring out at the crashing waves. "I'm not as bad as I used to be, but I'm still not all that good either when it comes to doing stunts."

This was pretty much true. Sam was a much better surfer than in his early days, but he still wasn't as good as Otto and Twister. But, when it came to skateboarding, it was like he was a totally different person. You never would've guessed that at one point, he could barely stand on a skateboard without falling on his backside.

"At least you're not a 'Sponge Head' anymore," Twister smirked.

Reggie laughed, as did Sam, recalling the term that Otto and Twister used to call him when first learning how to surf. Otto just rolled his eyes. If he wanted to reminisce, he would've stayed home and looked through an old photo album.

The youngest looked rather confused, not understanding why Reggie and Sam were laughing. "'_Sponge_ Head'?"

"When I was learning to surf, I used to use a boogie board. Being from Kansas, there really weren't any places to surf. Anyway, there was a big surf session in Malibu, and I was invited to go, but I felt kind of dinky for using my spongy boogie board, so Otto and Twister started calling me 'Sponge Head' and how I'd never become a _real_ surfer."

"_Harsh_!" Roderick laughed.

"After that, Reggie and Tito helped me learn how to surf that week, and Tito figured out what my problem was, and gave me this board I'm riding on now."

"¡Buena _on_da!"

"Yeah, you're right, it was pretty cool," Sam agreed with a small smile. "Tito's a great guy, and he taught me one more important thing during that time."

"What was that?"

"To just have fun."

"Ooo, I liked that rule," Roderick clapped energetically. "Fun is my middle name!"

"HE_LLO_! Let's surf!"

"I'm spectating," Sam spoke up quickly.

"Okay Rod, Reg..._Twist_...let's go."

"Hey Reg, I have a great idea for a trick!"

"_That's a first_," Otto muttered under his breath, his arms crossed.

Twister moved his board closer to the girl to tell him her idea. Reggie listened to every word attentively. "You want me to ride on your shoulders while you surf?" He nodded. "There's no way you could surf with me on your shoulders."

He looked down at his board, concurring with her. "Oh yeah, you're right. The board is too short."

"Ooo, a googly wave!" Sam exclaimed. "Forget doing tricks, let's just surf." With that, he paddled out, leaving the others behind.

"Squid, now you're speaking my language!"

"Hey, wait for me! I can handle _that_ wave!" Rod called out, as he paddled out behind Otto and Sam.

"You know," Reggie started after the other three had gone, "I'm not in much of a mood to surf. I feel like shredding Madtown instead."

"What about the others?"

"It should be okay. Let's just go ourselves. They're all really psyched on surfing, especially Rod, and I would hate to ruin his fun. Besides, when we put our boards back, we can tell dad and Tito that we're going to Madtown, and when Otto and the others go up there, one of them can give them the message, so that if they want to, they can join us later."

"I don't mind much. I can get some sweet footage of you in the Blader Bowl."

Their tasks set, the two headed back to shore and up to the Shore Shack, leaving their three friends behind...


	4. And The Trouble Begins

Sorry for not updating sooner, but not having a computer had a lot to do with it. I meant to update this earlier.

Anyway, what's your opinion on the title of this chapter? Pretty interesting, eh? Just as the title suggests, trouble begins amongst the four friends, as an argument breaks out amongst them. The argument is pretty lame, in my opinion, and won't really get explained or elaborated on until later chapters. As you all may recall, this story is mainly supposed to be about Roderick and his new friend (whom of which appears in chapter 6) and is going to help him reconcile the four friends (Otto and Twister mostly). I just hope you enjoy it and can hold out until I get there.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 04: "Ottoman, please, don't!" And the Trouble Begins...

"Woo! This is awesome!" Roderick cheered as he kicked out of the closing wave to avoid being tubed.

Sam was right behind him, but he wasn't as fortunate as the wave closed up on the blonde, causing him to wipe out. He surfaced and grabbed hi_s _board, spitting out the salty seawater. "Even Roderick surfs better than I do," the boy complained as he climbed back onto his board.

"Once a Squid, always a Squid," Otto laughed, paddling up beside the two.

"That's Harsh, O-man. Sam's a good surfer."

"Yeah, but he'll always be a Squid in my book."

Sam, who was moving some of his wet matted hair from out of his face, shot Otto a look.

"The good kind of Squid, of course," Otto added somewhat hastily, "since you're one of my best bros."

"Hey, where's Twister?" Roderick scanned the ocean to see only other tourists and a few locals.

"Reggie's gone too," Sam noted.

"Who cares," Otto answered coldly. 'They probably ditched us to make out,' he inwardly murmured sarcastically. "Let's just surf already." Before either boy could respond, Otto had paddled back out. Surfing often cleared his mind and helped to ease his annoyances, and he definitely needed it at that moment.

Roderick stared out at Otto, and then turned to the husky blonde beside him. "Sam, how come Otto seems kind of...upset?"

He could only shrug at the young boy's question. "I wish I knew."

"Whoo, O-man!" Roderick rooted. Otto had nailed a perfect 360. "Way to go!"

He remained standing on the board as he cruised back to the area Sam and Roderick were in, bowing, "Thank you, thank you. You're just too kind," he said as he sat down on his board. Both clapped for him – as did a few shoobies who had seen him – and laughed at how no matter what, Otto would always look cool.

"Why don't we go look for Twist and Reg now?" the younger boy asked meekly. He wasn't sure how Otto was going to react since he had seemed to be a bit rude when it came to those two.

"Why should we?" he retorted indignantly. "_They're_ the ones who left _us_!"

"Well, um, they could've gone to the Shore Shack for something," Sam pointed out.

"Sam! They didn't _do_ anything to work up an appetite, unless splashing is considered a sport now, and Raymundo gave us all the week off."

Sam trembled some over the tone in Otto's voice. He sounded as if he was about to blow due to his high annoyance level and mild anger. "Otto...you're scaring me."

"Otto, please, let's go find them."

He grumbled a few things before finally saying, "Okay." Roderick cheered, Otto muttering, "Whatever," while paddling back to shore.

"I bet she and Twister _are_ at the Shore Shack," Sam insisted as they walked up the ramp towards the Shore Shack, surfboards in hand, "drinking a couple of Shore Shakes, downing Shack fries, scarfing down a Hula Burger-"

"-skating towards home...holding hands," Roderick finished simply. 'I guess they left their surfboards at the Shore Shack.'

Otto rolled his eyes. 'Lame-os.'

"I guess, um, Twister needed another video for his camera," Sam answered timidly. He really wanted to keep the peace.

Otto scoffed. "Another video, yeah right!" With that, he tossed down his prized board, and marched down the road, more temperamental than he'd ever been in his entire life. Twister and Reggie had only gotten as far as the Pier sign. "Hey, Reggie! _Traitor_ Rodriguez!"

"Otto, no don't bother them," Sam pleaded in undertone. The last thing he wanted was a lot of attention drawn to him, and of course, that's what was going to happen if an argument broke out, but Otto just ignored him and continued on. "Come on," Sam sighed to Roderick as they caught up to the dread-haired boy.

"Reggie, Twister!"

The two finally heard the boy's bellowing and turned to face him, their hands now unclasped, and nearby people staring, curious as to what the the commotion was.

"Wow, um, O-man, may-"

"Running off, were you," Otto interrupted Roderick. "WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SURFING!" He turned his back to them, but sneered at the two, Twister in particular. "But _no_, you felt like leaving with _Mau_rice!"

"_Otto_," Sam groaned while holding his head. He felt eyes on the five of them, most of them being from Madtown customers and nearby shoobies. He was just grateful that neither Raymundo nor Tito had heard them. There was so much going on at the Shore Shack, they probably couldn't hear Otto's shouts that far off.

"What's your deal!"

"_You_ are!" Otto answered the girl as he faced the two once again. He then pointed an accusatory finger at the tall redhead. "What good are you, hanging with my sis all the time!"

"And _what_ is wrong with that?" Reggie angrily retorted.

"I'm sick of you!"

"The feeling is mutual!" Reggie shot back hotly. "I'm sick of your whack attitude!"

Twister stepped up to Otto, which was an interesting sight, especially since the redhead looked much bigger than him, as he was wearing his blades, and Otto wasn't. "You've been wiggin' on me for weeks now, and I'm _sick _of it!"

"Maybe if you're weren't such a _traitorous_ mug," he growled, his eyes narrowed and filled with malice, "I wouldn't _wig_!"

Twister's teeth were grit, and looked as if he was trying to hold back _his_ temper. "Maybe...if...you...would..._tell_...me...what's wrong instead of keeping...things to yourself, you wouldn't have a _reason_ to wig!"

Otto scoffed, and muttered, "A mug like you wouldn't understand."

Both boys' fists were now clenched, ready to swing, staring daggers at one another, but Roderick wouldn't stand for it.

"Otto, Twist!" He stood in between them, trying his best to hold the two taller boys back. "You guys are best bros, don't fight!"

"Roderick, stay out of this!" Otto snapped as he pushed him aside.

"Don't yell at him!"

"Why don't you just bug off, Re_gi_na!"

"C'mon, Otto, let's just all chill..."

"Tell _O_tto here to quit acting like a lame-o, Sam, and I will!"

"_Who_ are you calling a lame-o, _Mau_rice!" spat Otto heatedly.

"It's quite obvious that he was referring to you," Sam stated simply.

"Who the _hell_ asked _you_ to butt in, Sam!"

He cowered some. "I was just-"

"Leave Sammy and Twist alone, Otto!" Reggie ordered authoritatively.

Roderick sighed as he stared at the four friends: Otto and Twister were on the verge of pounding each other senseless, Sam looked as if he were fearfully trying to keep the peace, and all of them were yelling, faces red. The usually cheery boy just headed over to the nearby bike rack, unlocked it, strapped his surfboard to the back of it, and rode off sullenly. The four were so wrapped up in themselves, that they didn't even notice the boy slink off...


	5. Lars's Generous Offer!

Well, here's the next chapter for you all. This chapter finally brings Lars into the story. I'll be upfront with you all...Lars will more than likely not be seen as much as he was in the prequel to this fic, so I apologize to all of the Lars fans. Lars, for this chapter, makes a generous offer to Roderick. Either way, I hope that you'll enjoy this installment. I just wish I could've managed to get more in this chapter than I did. I'm not very content with this chapter at all.

Oh, and I must apologize (again) for taking such a while to update this. I still can't log onto the net with my computer. I promise to try and upload the next chapter faster, though. Roderick's knew friend appears, and I guarantee you that it'll be a nice, fun read.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 05: "I have an idea!" Lars' Generous Offer...

Roderick sighed as he slumped down on the couch of the living room of the empty Rodriguez home. He knew that Sandy and Raul were working, but he had no idea where Lars was. He didn't see him earlier that morning, and his car wasn't parked beside the house when he and Twister left to go meet up with Reggie, Sam, and Otto.

"Hey pipsqueak," he heard someone greet, entering the house. He was so deep in thought, that he didn't even hear the front door open.

The person who had greeted him was wearing a black muscle shirt, which extenuated his muscular build, which the girls of Ocean Shores practically loved, a familiar grey ski cap to keep his wavy brown hair from out of his face, long, black cut-off jean shorts, and a pair of sandals. It almost looked like he was headed off to the beach, to Roderick. "Oh, hi Lars."

The now 19-year-old Ocean Shores High graduate was enjoying the rest of his summer off before starting to Ocean Shores Community College that fall and then transferring over to a four-year university. Since he couldn't make up his mind on a major, he decided to take courses there until he could finally make up his mind on one.

"I thought you were hanging out with the Twisted One today, like you've been doing for the past few days." He sounded somewhat resentful over the attention Twister seemed to get from the kid, not that Roderick noticed his tone, his mind being currently elsewhere. He rarely ever asked to hang out with him, although, Lars never really made the offer to either. He preferred Roderick to come to him to ask to hang, not for it to be the other way around.

"Oh, I just decided to come back home early," he lied.

Lars wasn't too persuaded and sat down next to him. "Whoa, you're not sick, are you?" Lars asked him in alarm.

The boy smiled halfheartedly. "Nah, I just tired myself out and worked up an appetite. I came back to change out of my wet clothes and maybe go back up to the Pier or Boardwalk."

"Well, I'm about to go back out to meet up with the guys," he stood up, "want me to give you a ride?"

"I don't mind blading back up there."

"Yo, I really don't mind especially, if you're tired."

"No thanks, bro."

"You're going to be heading back home soon, and I haven't done one thing with you." He thought for a moment. "How about I take you to Disney Land, or maybe Universal Studios?"

"Whoa! Really?"

"Yeah, we can make a road trip out of it – Anaheim isn't that far off – and it'll be my gift to you. Think of it as an extremely early birthday present."

The boy jumped out of his seat and gave Lars the biggest hug ever. Lars smiled as he hugged the boy awkwardly, as he wasn't expecting it. "Thank you Lars! When can we go, bro?"

"Whenever you want, just let me know the day before you want to go, or maybe tonight after you've thought about it."

"Can our friends come?"

He rolled his eyes slightly, but his harsh expression lifted, realizing that if it meant a lot to him, it shouldn't matter whether or not Roderick brought Twister or the others along. "Sure, but tell me who's coming. I'm not paying for other people, only you."

"Yay! You're the greatest, Lars!"

Lars smiled proudly, and shined his nails smugly. "I know." With that, he picked up his wallet off the nearby coffee table, which was why he'd returned in the first place. He'd forgotten it. "I'll catch you later, and don't forget to lock up when you leave, if you decide to, and don't you _dare_ get sick on me just because you decided to skate to the Pier instead of having me drive you!"

"I'll be fine, Lars, don't worry."

Lars was a bit hesitant at first, but he finally left Roderick to go meet up with his friends...


	6. The Explosive Redhead!

Well, back again, and late to update again. I should just stop apologizing, eh? lol Anyway, I'd like to say Happy belated Birthday to a couple of you: Scott aka **Salsipuedes **(October 3) and Aaron, aka** Ottoman** (October 8). I hope you guys are enjoy being a whole 'nother year older. For the record, my birthday was October 6, so I'm a whole year older too. Seems time is just flying by, eh?

Okay, now for this chapter, Roderick will encounter a very temperamental individual, but by the title, I'm sure some of you may have already figured out who that individual could be.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 06: "Out of my way, Lame-os!" The Explosive Redhead!

Roderick left shortly after Lars had, back in his normal attire, which consisted of his white t-shirt with the faint, thin lines, blue jeans, and his favorite, Dodgers baseball cap. He walked up to the Boardwalk quite gloomily. He had no desire to rollerblade or bike around Ocean Shores, and just chose to walk. He'd been doing so for a good while.

'Why can't those four just get along?' he thought miserably as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, his head face down to the ground, and his back slightly hunched. 'Why does Otto get so tweaked whenever Twist and Reg hang out together? Nothing's changed. They still act the same.'

Unable to answer his own question, he continued walking, not necessarily caring where he ended up. While walking, he heard a ringing, which caught his attention. He looked up to see an ice cream vendor with a cart nearby. He smiled slightly. "Maybe some ice cream will cheer me up," he declared, as he headed to the semi-long line, "and maybe the guys'll lighten up if they come with Lars and me and then we can all be friends again."

The line began to move in no time at all. Roderick noted in thought that the vendor was pretty fast at completing orders. "I'd like a vanilla cone, please," Roderick told the vendor once he reached the front. The man nodded and took the money. He went straight to the boy's order right away. Once done, he started to hand him the cone. "Thank you."

Roderick started to grab for the cone, when he – as well as anyone else within a 100-mile radius – heard a girl shout, "HEY, GET OUT OF MY WAY, _LAME_-OS!"

People started to turn in search of the owner of the voice, while others seemed to just grow fearful, and shout, "Run!" as if something horrible or unspeakable was approaching them. The person then appeared, marching her way through the crowd while people willingly moved so that she may get in front of them. Some just ran for shelter. Even the ice cream vendor looked a bit wary as the petite, shoulder-lengthened wavy red-haired girl made her way to the front of the line.

The girl stopped when she got to Roderick, who was still standing in line. As of the moment, he was the only person still in line. "DIDN'T YOU HEAR ME! _MOVE_!"

He remained calm, and was surprised that everyone had run from such a young girl. "But I was here first."

"Tell it to someone who cares, _shoo_bie!" She bawled up her right hand and waved her fist at him threateningly. Others who were watching from a distance all seemed terrified for Roderick. "Don't make me hurt you!"

"Violence is never the answer," he wisely stated.

"Either you move, or get whomped by me!"

He shook his head, remaining nonchalant over the entire situation. "Sorry, I was here first," he repeated thoughtfully, "and I want the ice cream I already paid for."

"I-I warned you!" she trembled in both surprised and anger. She pulled her arm back, and swung it, aiming for the boy's stomach since he was taller than she, but he caught her fist within the blink of an eye. "What the-" She swung her other fist, but he blocked that one with his free hand while letting go of the other. She growled.

"Okay, let's quit all of this," Roderick told her.

She had grown infuriated and didn't listen, as she tried to punch Roderick again. He just sighed over this young girl's lack of cooperation, and blocked every single hit she threw at him. His speed, to the fearful onlookers, was phenomenal.

She started to breathe hard from the energy she was using to try and land just one hit on the kid. The boy, to her, had a confident look on his face, which just made her even more irate. She bawled up her right fist once again, and aimed for Roderick's face, but he moved his head slightly, so that she would miss him altogether, grabbed her right arm, and pulled it behind her, putting her into an arm lock. Everyone who know of this girl just gasped in surprise. They had never seen anyone take the girl on before.

"Hey," she grunted, "let...me...go...you-"

"Only if you promise to calm down," he interrupted bleakly.

"I don't _got_ to do anything," the girl hissed, feeling completely humiliated over her current situation.

"Then I won't let you go."

She tried to wiggle free from out of his grasp, but she was having no luck in doing so. He was actually stronger than he looked, which she noted, but she _wasn't_ going to go down without a fight! She had one more trick up her sleeve, and she knew it was guaranteed to work. An evil, almost devilish smirk spread across her slightly freckled face.

"If you don't let me go, I'll scream so loud, Officer Shirley and the Ocean Shores police department, that's on the other side of town, will hear me and come running _right_ over!"

'She _can't_ be serious!'

"Well?"

Roderick shook his head. "That's the opposite of calming down."

The girl took in a deep breath. While she was doing that, he noticed the people around them holding their ears. He was wondering how bad her scream could possibly be for all of these people to be in fear of it as much as they were. His question was soon answered. She let out the loudest, most terrifying shriek known to man. It was high-pitched and long. Roderick kept his hold on her, and concentrated very hard to tune out the noise so that he wouldn't let up on his grip, which wasn't very easy. He had to focus his mind on everything accept her scream.

The girl finally stopped screaming, her breathing a bit unsteady. "Hey, you didn't let go," she said in surprise.

Coming back to reality, realizing that the ear-piercing punishment was over, he told her, "I said I would if you promised to calm down, which you didn't."

Hesitant, and realizing that she'd been beaten, she mumbled, "Yeah, I promise."

Roderick turned back to the vendor, who was hiding behind the cart. "Excuse me, sir, but I'd like my ice cream now." He stood up slowly and cautiously, shakily handing the boy his ice cream. He didn't know how the girl was going to react now. "Thank you, sir." He started to eat his treat, but all of the other inhabitants who had been in line with him, were still too fearful to come back out to return to the line.

He turned his attention to the temperamental girl wearing the dark green jumper, white t-shirt, and bright white sneakers who was still standing beside him. "If you want, I can buy you an ice cream," he offered sweetly and politely.

She blinked in stupidity. "Now _why_ would you want to do something like that?"

"Well, I held your arm a bit harder than I meant to." He'd noticed her rubbing her right arm. "It's my way of apologizing, I guess."

"Yeah...I guess I would...like one," she replied slowly, eyeing Roderick suspiciously. What was _with_ this kid? "I wanted a Freezy Freeze."

"Okay." He turned back to the vendor. "One Freezy Freeze, please."

Why was this boy being so _nice_ to her? She'd never encountered this type of person before, but for some strange, and inexplicable reason, she didn't want to pound him for, well, defeating her. Instead, she had a bit of an admiration for him for standing up to her. It clearly meant that he was worthy of her time.

Smiling, he handed her the pop. "Here you go."

She took the Freezy Freeze and forced out a, "Th-thanks." She felt that she probably sounded a bit rude since she really wasn't used of giving thanks. Roderick just dismissed it, and walked off to a nearby bench...


	7. Formal Introductions

Well, back again. I hope you enjoyed the last chapter. It was really fun to write. Anyway, for this chapter, it's just continuing where the last one left off. There really isn't much to it. Roderick and the redheaded girl talk for a while and introduce one another. Pretty simple chapter, eh?

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Chapter 07: "My name is Roderick Vandenack; nice to meet you!" Formal Introductions...

Roderick walked off to a nearby bench and took a seat. The girl followed him almost unconsciously; she was still curious as to why he'd been so nice to her, and seated herself next to him, as if studying him.

"So," he licked his cone, "what's your name? I didn't catch it with everyone running away in terror and shouting to 'run'." He wasn't usually so blunt or crude with his responses, but he also wasn't in the best of moods at the moment.

"I didn't catch _yours_ either," the girl snapped back.

"My name is Roderick Vandenack," he answered her casually, "but everyone usually calls me Rodrigo – family mostly – or either Rod."

"Well, my name is Mackenzie Duncan. Nice to meet you, I guess."

He gently smiled to her. "Nice to meet you too." He licked some more of his ice cream before it could melt. "How old are you?"

"I just turned 12 a while ago. How about you?"

"I'm 13; I'll be 14 in October."

"Nice," she grumbled. 'He sure is small for a 13 year old.'

"So, how come all of those people ran away when you showed up?"

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"Visiting."

She finally finished her Freezy Freeze, and tossed the wrapper into the nearby trashcan. "Ocean Shores is an okay place." For some reason, she really didn't wan to get into why people always ran away from her.

"Yeah, it's fun, with all the stuff here, like Madtown!"

"So, you like Madtown?"

He nodded. "And biking, and surfing, and blading too! What I _really_ like is baseball, though! The Dodgers is my favorite team! Just the other day, some friends and I played a game. It was fun!"

"So..." she uttered slowly, her face going partially read, due to her still being embarrassed from earlier, "...how were you able to hold me in the way that you did and how come you could stop my punches? You don't look all that strong, and you're still a kid."

"Oh, I take karate," he answered frankly. "I'm a brown belt. I'm going to be a black belt pretty soon, and I can't wait!"

"That's...interesting..."

"You know, you're pretty strong."

She scoffed. "If I was strong, you'd be a bloody pulp right now."

"There are other ways for one to be strong. One can be mentally strong, and having mental strength is just as important as physical strength."

"That doesn't make any sense!"

"Actually, it does if you think about it. For example, it's better to be nice and treat people the way you would want to be treated instead of treating them meanly or without respect. It does wonders." He gave her a look, wondering if she'd taken in what he'd said. To him, she seemed to be, but there was no guarantee that she was actually going to apply that knowledge. "That aside, you're physically strong. Your punch was very tough. I've never encountered anything like that before from a person your age and size." Roderick laughed slightly. "Looks like I've found myself the perfect sparring partner."

Mackenzie cracked a small smile. She'd never been complimented in such a way before, and this one actually came across as being both sincere and honest, not one said out of fear of her crying, yelling, or pounding the person unless said person was telling her what she wanted to hear.

"So, how long have you lived in Ocean Shores, and what is your family like?"

Roderick spent the rest of the afternoon talking with the girl, who seemed to run Ocean Shores in the way she saw fit, which he noticed as the two walked around the city. She was a very interesting person, for the most part. She showed to be quite knowledgeable about all that went on in the town. Mackenzie couldn't believe that this older boy was listening to her, but not as surprised over the fact that she was opening up somewhat to him. She didn't understand it, and wondered if it had something to do with the trusting, sincere vibe he seemed to give off along with his cheery disposition. She actually _cared_ what he thought of her.

"Man, I'm getting hungry," Roderick looked down at his wristwatch, and noticed that the day was entering the early evening, "how about you?"

"Yeah, I _am_ a little hungry."

"I wouldn't mind heading over to the Shore Shack."

"I haven't been there in a while." A grin appeared on the young girl's face, which looked devious. Roderick didn't know what to make of it. "Let's go!"

"Um, yeah...okay," he answered, somewhat cautiously.

With that, the two made their ways to the Pier, for shore food at the beach-side restaurant...


	8. Mackenzie's Unusual Cooperation

Wow, late with updating again. Sorry all. I kept getting distracted by other things. Either way, I hope you guys decide to read **Salsipuedes**' Halloween fic. It's spooky and mysterious! Well, I felt it was.

Now, for this chapter, Roderick and Mackenzie go the Shore Shack to get a bite to eat. To Roderick's surprise, Reggie is there, so he tries to speak with her.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 08: "Yeah, yeah, I'll pay..." Mackenzie's Unusual Cooperation...

It didn't take the two long, but they finally reached the friendly, family-owned restaurant, the Shore Shack. It was one of the most well-known establishments in all of Ocean Shores.

After entering the somewhat busy place, Roderick focused his attention towards the front counter. He was surprised to see who was tending it. "Hey look, it's Reggie!"

"Rocket Girl," Mackenzie murmured.

The two got in line, which moved swiftly enough. "Erm, hi Reggie," Roderick greeted after they'd made their way to the front.

"Yeah, hi." She then grumbled frustratingly, "That Otto...I can't believe Sam..."

"Huh?"

"What do you want to eat?"

"Where's Otto?"

At the mentioning of Otto's name, Reggie's face twisted up in anger, a look Roderick had never witnessed before. Reggie, right now to Roderick, was quite frightening.

Before answering, she "hmmphed" slightly, and rolled her big, brown eyes. "He's down at the rental shop. Raymundo needed some help stocking up for tomorrow, and asked him to do it." She said more, but her grumbling was much too incoherent to understand. All Roderick and Mackenzie could catch were names.

"So...um...where are Twister and Sam?"

"I don't know where _Sam_uel is," she began, resembling a hot-tempered Otto, "but Twister stormed off someplace."

The younger boy decided not to ask anymore questions pertaining to Otto and the others since their fight had obviously escalated after he'd left them. "W-well, I'm ready to order, sis."

"What can I get for you?" she asked in a voice so dull, it almost seemed like she didn't care if they ate anything or not.

"The Kilohana Combo with a chocolate soda." He turned to the petite girl beside him. "You?"

Mackenzie stared Reggie right in the eyes and glowered at her. "Hey lame-o, I-" she stopped as she noticed Roderick from the corner of her eye. He was shaking his head disapprovingly and slightly tsked at her. "I-I mean, I'd like the same thing he's having," she corrected, but hastily added, "and you _better_ make it snappy or else!"

'That could've been worse,' the boy thought.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Roderick figured that Reggie hadn't even paid Mackenzie any mind. The girl made her way over to the soda fountain to get them their drinks.

Right at that a moment, a certain chubby Hawaiian walked in from the back, and made his way to the counter. Reggie was so annoyed, that she was shooting looks of annoyance at most anyone who would try to speak with her or cross her path. "Whoo, that 'lil wahini seems madder than an Atkins Dieter at a pie and cake eating contest. What happened any-" Tito stopped as he noticed Mackenzie. He suddenly grew very _very_ apprehensive. "H-hi there, Mackenzie. Would you like something to-to eat or drink? It's on the house, free of ch-charge, hehe."

She rubbed her hands together greedily. "Free, just the way I like it!"

"No thank you, Tito. She'll pay just like I will. We both ordered a Kilohana Combo with a chocolate soda."

"_What_!" Who did he think _he_ was, speaking up, saying what she could and couldn't do! "Why not?"

He gave her a crafty smile. "Pay for your own meal, and I'll tell you."

"Why...you...how...do...ugh!" She muttered a bit more, and crossed her arms in slight irritation. "Yeah, yeah. How much?"

Tito looked as if time had stopped for him, or if he'd just won the lottery. Someone had controlled her, a task that not even Mackenzie's own _parents_ were capable of.

At that moment, Reggie walked back to the counter, two chocolate sodas in hand. She gave out a disgruntled, "Here." After handing them their drinks, she turned back to Tito who was working the register, collecting Roderick and Mackenzie's money. She handed him the slip where she'd written down the kids' orders. "I'll go clean up in the back," she told the chubby Hawaiian in monotone. Before he could object, the depressed teen had slipped into the kitchen. The last thing the 17-year-old girl wanted, was to deal with customers with the way she was currently feeling.

"So, what's wrong with the 'lil wahini Rocket?"

"Yeah! Her attitude stinks on ice!"

'And this coming from the girl who bullies everyone to get what she wants,' thought Roderick incredulously. "I'm not too sure, Tito. When I left them today, they, as in she and Otto, were arguing."

"I guess it's something we should probably stay out of it."

"Yeah, I guess so," the boy muttered.

"I'm sure that whatever the problem is, Reggie and Otto'll get over it," Tito said quite confidently. "Those two have been through thick and thin together, so I'm sure it'll pass over."

'I wouldn't count on it.' Roderick felt that it was more serious than even Tito could realize, especially since Tito hadn't witnessed the way all them were arguing. He wasn't feeling too eager on them reconciling, or talking period, anytime soon, but _was_ hoping beyond hope that this feeling of his would prove him wrong.

"Hey look, it's Raymundo," Tito pointed. Walking up the ramp towards the Shore Shack was the balding, blonde-haired man. He was coming up from the rental shop, which was found right below the restaurant on the beach. Once reaching the interior, he noticed the short-brown-haired boy in front of the counter of the seaside eatery. His blue Dodgers baseball cap gave him away.

"Hey there, Rod," he started, but his tone went from friendly to fearful almost instantaneously, "Mac_ken_zie? What can we get for you? Free of charge, of course." He finished up with a nervous laugh.

"It's okay, bruddah," Tito told him, still surprised over what he'd seen take place earlier, "I'm about to handle their orders right now." With that, he took off for the grill, while Ray took Tito's place behind the counter.

"Otto is extremely grumpy today," Ray sighed. "Reggie was a bit snappy too, thinking about it now. I know the kids hate working when I give them time off, but this is ridiculous. I really needed the extra help."

"How long has Reggie been here?"

"For the past couple of hours. I saw Reggie walking by, and I asked her to help out. I then asked her where Otto was. She told me that he was down on the beach, so I went down there and asked him to help me in the rental shop." He thought for a moment as he scratched his head underneath his trademark white fisherman's cap. "I don't really think they're upset for having to help me since Reggie seemed cross I even asked her. I asked her what was wrong, just like I did with Otto, but neither would get into it."

"They're mad at each other, but I don't understand why, though."

"Mad at each other?"

He nodded. "Yeah, when I left them today, they were arguing."

"Oh, that's not good," he groaned despairingly. "I guess I should talk to the both of them to find the source of the problem.."

"Maybe Twister or Sam could explain it."

"Hmm, that's not a bad idea Rod. Maybe I'll ask them."

"Okay kids," Tito announced, walking up with two trays, "time for the best combo ever!"

Roderick took his tray and set his chocolate soda on it. "This looks really good, Tito! Thanks!"

Mackenzie followed suit, and mumbled, in a low voice, "What he said..."

Ray blinked, as the two kids headed towards an empty table. "Tito, did she just-"

"She sure did bruddah." Tito smiled. "That young cuz there seems to have some kind of control over her. She even _paid_ for her meal."

"She _what_?"

"You better believe it. I was just as shocked as you were."

'Is this a sign of the Apocalypse?' He stared over at the two, who were now talking. He just shook his head in disbelief and mouthed out, "Wow," before going to the customer who had just approached the counter...


	9. A Conversation With Mrs Rodriguez

I'm back everyone, and sorry, once again (sick of this yet? lol) for taking such a while to update. I hope that you all have a nice upcoming Thanksgiving holiday next Thursday, for those of you who celebrate it. Don't forget to mention what you're thankful for.

Now, as for this chapter, it's just like the titles says. Roderick has a conversation with Mrs. Rodriguez when on his way to see Twister. Of course I got help with this chapter. Thanks a lot, Mike. I used Spanish dialog for this chapter, so I had to fix any mistakes I had, so that it'll flow better, and to give it more of a Mexican dialect. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, even if it is extremely short.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 09: "¡Hola, tía Sandy!" A Conversation with Mrs. Rodriguez...

Roderick finally made it home, thinking over his day, and of the strange, fiery red-haired girl with the hot temper to match it. Before parting ways with Mackenzie at the Shore Shack, he promised that he'd hang with her the next day. Where, exactly, hadn't been decided on yet.

In a way, he felt this need to spend time with her. He was curious as to why she acted in the way she did. To him, he wondered if she acted in such a way to garner attention, or how maybe she just needed a friend. Roderick was happy to oblige, as he was always willing to make new friends.

He closed the door behind him, and started towards the stairs, but was stopped by a woman with long, dark curly hair, with one hand resting on her hip.

"Rodrigo, ¿dónde estabas?" Mrs. Rodriguez asked the boy, a slight tone of worry in her stern voice. "¡Hace horas que regresó Mauricio de la playa!" (Rodrigo, where have you been? Mauricio has been home [from the beach] for hours!)

"Oh, I was just walking around Ocean Shores, sightseeing for a bit."

"Pero te perdiste la cena." (But you missed dinner.)

"Shore Shack."

"Oh, okay, I should've known," she smiled. "¿Tuviste un buen día?" (Did you have fun today?/Did you have a fun time?/Did you have a good day?)

"¡Sí, tía, súper! ¡No puedo esperar a mañana!" (I sure did, Aunt Sandy!/Yes, Aunt Sandy! I can't wait until tomorrow!)

"¿Por qué? ¿Qué vas a hacer?" (Why? What are you going to do?)

"No sé," he grinned, "¡pero va a ser divertido!" (I don't know, but it's going to be fun!)

She laughed over the boy's response. "¡Qué bueno! ¡Eres muy optimista!" (That's great! You're very optimistic!/You're so optimistic!)

"Bueno, no hay razón para estar tristes si logramos ver un nuevo día. 'Siempre mira adelante', como dice papá." He gave her a whimsical smile. "Tengo mucho que agradeceer." (No need to be said if we've lived to see another day. 'Always look forward,' like my dad says. I have much to be grateful for.)

"Qué bueno que pienses así de la vida." (It's very good that you feel that way about life.)

He nodded to her as he yawned. "Tuve un día pesado y estoy cansado, tía." He stretched. "Creo que voy a descansar un rato." (I'm a bit tired, [Aunt Sandy]. I think I'll go rest for a while.)

Mrs. Rodriguez felt her breath stop, as a look of extreme worry found its way to her round face. Roderick always expected that. Whenever he would mention that he was tired, or maybe felt a little under the weather, everyone – like clockwork – would grow worrisome over him.

"No estás enfermo, ¿verdad?" (You aren't sick, are you?/You're not sick, are you?)

"No, estoy bien." (No, I'm fine.)

She breathed out in relief and hugged the boy tightly. "¡Gracias a Dios!" (Thank goodness!/Thank God!)

After letting go, he asked, "¿Y dónde están Lars y tío Raúl?" (Where are Lars and Uncle Raúl?)

"Todavía no regresan." (They're not home yet.)

"Pues hablo con ellos despues." (Okay, I'll just talk with them later.)

With that, he left Sandy, and stalked upstairs towards the youngest Rodriguez's room...


	10. Twister's Frustration

Okay, I see we're allowed to update our stories again. Boy was I late, and the last to find out. Typical, eh? lol That aside, I really do hope you enjoyed the last chapter and thanks again to both Mike and Nestor for helping me. (Hugs both)

Now, for this chapter, Roderick gets Twister's view on all that's happened between the foursome. Roderick wants Twister to talk with Otto to end the fight, but will that persuade Twister to do so?

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 10: "Don't mention that surfer geek _again_!" Twister's Frustration...

Roderick stood in front of Twister's bedroom door, trying to bring himself to knock. All sorts of doubts ran throughout his mind, though, like, "What if Twister is way too tweaked to talk?" He shook his head. 'No, I _will _go in there and talk to my friend!'

He lightly rapped on the door. "Who is it," he heard someone grunt.

"Um, it's just me. I'm coming in now." The boy entered the room, only find that Twister had his blinds closed. He'd never seen Twister's room so dully lit before. "So, um, heya, Twister."

"Hi," he muttered darkly.

The boy took notice of Twister's state. He was lying flat on his back, staring blankly up at the ceiling. It almost looked as if he were trying to clear his mind. Roderick walked closer to Twister's bed, but never took his eyes from off of the ceiling. "So...how's it going?" he asked hopefully. 'Maybe he'll talk more than Reggie did.'

Instead of a clear answer, Twister muttered incoherently in Spanish, a sure sign that he was upset, which those like Lars knew, and had even explained to Reggie about one time. The only thing Roderick could catch was the name, "Otto".

"Oh-kay...so...what happened?"

Twister sat up, his face twisted up in hurt and betrayal. "_Stu_pid Otto..."

"What's going on with O-man anyway?"

"What _is_n't wrong with him?" Twister snapped, which caused the younger boy to jump back slightly from the unexpected outburst. "He's been treating me like crud for weeks! He treats me like-like-like...like a _shoo_bie!"

"Maybe you should...talk to him?" Roderick wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not, hence his even questioning the actual suggestion. 'One of them should talk.'

Twister crossed his arms stubbornly, and told the boy in a stern voice that could rival Mrs. Rodriguez's, "No!"

"But you guys are _best_ bros!"

"_Were_ best bros," he corrected. "Just forget about him."

The 13 year old was unsure of what he should say or do next. He didn't want to forget about Otto or anyone. He wanted everyone to be friends again.

Twister uncrossed his arms, and smiled. "Hey, Reg and me were talkin', and we're going to hang out tomorrow. Want to come with?"

"Um, what about Sam?"

Twister snorted, and his smile faded to that of a bothered frown. "He sided with my _ex_-best friend! I don't want to talk to the Squid right now, and as for my ex-best friend, I don't want to even hear anything about that surfer skateboarding geek ever again!" He then started to mutter under his breath, "_We've been friends for like forever, and __**this**__ is how he treats me? Stupid Otto!_"

"But Twister-"

"_Drop_ it! I'm _not_ going to talk to him until he apologizes to me!"

"But what if he doesn't apologize? You know how stubborn Otto can be."

"Then goodbye life-long friendship with Rocket Boy," he stated as plainly as he could, while trying to come across as madder than what he actually was, but he was obviously failing miserably. Roderick noticed how his voice was unsteady when saying he'd rather sacrifice not being friends with Otto than to talk it out. Deep down, Twister wanted more than anything to talk things out with Otto, and had for a good while, but realized that if Otto wasn't making any effort to, why should he really bother with it?

'This is terrible.' He sighed as he saw Twister retake his spot on the bed, staring back up at the ceiling. 'I have to figure out a way to get those two back on good terms. Friends shouldn't leave each other hangin' like that, especially best bros. If Twister and Otto talk to each other and become friends again, them Sam and Reggie are bound to come around too!'

"Rod, I'm tired," he told the boy shortly. "I'm going to sleep now." He turned over, and lied on his side, his back to Roderick. The redhead was much too upset to bother speaking any more on the subject of Otto. "See ya in the mornin'."

"Y-yeah, g'night, bro," he told him with a nod, even if it was still a bit early. He figured that Twister just wanted to be alone with his thoughts...


	11. Roderick's Conversation with Otto

Thank you so much for the reviews everyone! As of right now, I have a lot of free time, so I'll try to update this story faster. Oh, and yes, like one of you pointed out, Otto did blow this way out of proportion (and I love your fic, btw). He's being very stubborn, but that'll change, of course. As for the whole Twister x Reggie relationship, I would write a bit more in-depth about it, but I'm not very good with romance, even though I actually wanted to write another Christmas fic like I did before involving the two. Who knows what I'll come up with.

Now, for this chapter, Roderick runs into Otto when on his way to Sam's and questions him about the argument that occurred earlier. Will Otto be cooperative or will he leave Roderick even more puzzled over the current predicament? I must apologize in advance for this chapter. It's incredibly short, but I suppose the next chapter will make up for it.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 11: "Sam's gone Benedict Squid!" Roderick's Conversation with Otto...

'This stinks on ice!' Roderick declared in thought after he'd left Twister's room. 'What in the world am I going to do about those guys and what's the deal with Sam?' He decided right then and there to have a talk with the blonde. Something just didn't seem right to him. Sam siding with _any_one seemed unlike him, especially since he always seemed to like avoiding conflict by remaining neutral or being the peacemaker amongst the boys.

He made his way back downstairs and raced past the dining room, but was stopped by a black-haired man wearing a dark-green suit, and had a rolled-up newspaper tucked underneath his right arm.

"Ah, Rodrigo, how are you?" Raúl Rodriguez greeted the boy.

"Oh, I'm doing fine, thanks," he answered back hurriedly.

Raúl gave him a look, wondering why the boy was being so oddly formal. "I just got home a while ago and Sandy has just finished telling me about how you spent your day. Sounds like you had a lot of fun."

"Oh, I did," he nodded vigorously. He was itching to leave. "Tío Raúl," he began urgently, "I have to go out for a while."

"Oh?" He pulled on his thick mustache as he stared down at the boy curiously. "Where are you going? Sandy told me that you were going to rest for a bit from your exciting day."

"I'm going over to Sam's," he answered quickly. "It's not that late, and I wanted to get some information from him that I meant to get earlier, but I forgot to."

The middle-aged man gave Roderick an earnest and proud smile. "You're preparing for school early, aren't you? Samuel is the perfect person to get information from. Now if only _my_ boys were as eager as you when it came to school work."

"Y-yeah, school is very important." Roderick started to grow slightly impatient, and wished that Raúl would hurry and let him go. He was tempted to just leave, but knew it was rude and disrespectful to do so.

"Well, I'll let you go, but don't stay out too long. You should rest up if you're planning on having another exciting day tomorrow."

"Yes sir! ¡Adios!"

Glad that the interrogation was over, he rushed out the door. He made his way quickly over to Sam's place, when he heard the sound of clacking coming from the Rocket home. It was familiar to him. He ran towards where the sound was coming from, which led to the Rockets' half-pipe, and just as he'd suspected, he saw Otto in his blades, skating. He didn't have to say anything to get his attention, as Otto noticed him when skating back down the pipe.

"Hey, bro!" Otto greeted cheerfully as he made his way towards him. At least he still had his admiration and friendship. "What's up?"

"I'm doing okay, I guess," he answered plainly. "I thought you had to help out your father at the rental shop."

"Oh, I finished stocking everything for him, and Raymundo said that I could chill for the rest of the evening. I was coming here to grab my skateboard, but changed my mind and decided to skate here instead of going back up to Madtown." He looked down at the boy inquiringly. "What are you doing out here? Decided to come skate with me for a while?"

He shook his head. "I was just heading over to Sam's, and-"

"You mean Benedict Squid!" growled Otto.

"What? Benedict Squid?" he blinked in confusion. 'I thought only Reggie and Twister were upset with Sam, not Otto too!'

"Yeah, that _traitor_ sided with my _ex_ best bro, _Traitor_ Rodriguez! I should've known he would, the little suck-up!" the dread-haired teen spat in vexation.

"So you're not talking to Sammy at all?"

"No way! Not after what _he_ did!" He bawled up his fists, and they started to tremble some. "I'm not speaking to him _or_ Twister!"

"What about Reggie?" the boy found himself asking before he realized it.

"I can't stop talking to her because she's my sister," he answered him almost regrettably, "but that can change..." He skated to the side door of the house. "I have to go," he mumbled crossly. With that, he entered the house, leaving a confused Roderick standing beside the pipe, looking completely perturbed.

'What just happened?'


	12. Caught in the Middle

Oh good grief. I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this. I promise not to take as long anymore. This time was just ridiculous. I was trying to write a nice Twister x Reggie Christmas fic for you all, but I put this fic on hold, and came to a block with the attempted Christmas fic. Well, either way, I hope that everyone, who celebrates it, enjoyed their Christmas and New Year's holiday.

For this chapter, Roderick finally makes it to the Dullard home, and Sam fills him in on all that happened after he'd left them, and actually theorizes as to what the actual cause of the argument between Otto and Twister could've been about.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 12: "Everyone's mad at _me_!" Caught in the Middle...

Roderick remained by the half-pipe a bit longer, still flabbergasted over the conversation he'd just had with Otto, since he hadn't gotten anyplace. He still couldn't understand how they could _all _be upset with Sam. How could Sam side with Otto, when Otto said that Sam had sided with Twister, and more than likely, Reggie.

"Oh," he groaned in frustration while holding his head, "what in the world happened after I left them?"

Unable to answer his own question, he decided to continue on to speak with the one logical person who probably could explain it. He rang the bell of the Dullard home, which was quickly answered by Sam's mother. "Oh, hi there Roderick."

"Hi there, Mrs. Dullard! You look really pretty!" the boy complimented.

"Oh, Roderick," she giggled playfully, with a slight blush. "You're too kind."

"But it's true!"

The woman was dressed, as if she were about to go out. She was wearing a pair of sandals, a long, bright-yellow sundress, her plain, black cat-eye glasses, and a shawl which was a present from Tito to her, which was hand-knitted by Mommi. Her shiny blonde hair was hanging sleekly down to her skinny shoulders, not one single hair out of place, and it was also decorated with a single, beautiful, enchanting orchid.

"Come on in," Paula told him.

"Is Sam home?" the boy asked after he entered the home.

"He's in his room playing on his computer," she explained. "Would you like a snack or anything? I have some cookies."

Shaking his head, he politely answered, "No thank you. I just want to talk to Sam."

After dismissing him, he headed to Sam's room. He was about to knock, when he overheard him talking. Roderick peaked through the slightly ajar door...

"I know...I don't know _what_ to do...Maybe you could talk to her?...I'm desperate here since I'm caught in the middle!...Well, if anyone could get her to calm down, at least you can, or maybe some other friends of hers...You promise?...No guarantees, huh?...What do you _mean_ she may be a hopeless case?...Oh yeah, she is a bit like him sometimes...Okay, okay...Yeah, I'll talk to you later...Alright, I'll catch up with you tomorrow sometime...Yeah, I guess we'll manage to come up with _some_thing...Thanks a lot, Sherry."

Sam hanged up his cordless phone, and rolled his chair back to his computer desk. He needed something to do since his mother wasn't going to be home for the night to converse with, due to her having a late date with Tito. He decided to play one of the many MMORPGs (Multi Massive Online Role Playing Games) he was registered to.

After booting up his latest game, a knock was heard on his door. "Come in," the stout blonde called absentmindedly, his full concentration on the login screen. Roderick walked in, which caused Sam to glance back to see who'd entered his room, as he expected it to be his mother. "Oh, Roderick, hi there." He turned his chair to face him. "What happened to you today? You just took off."

"You actually noticed?"

"Of course I did, but with all of the arguing going on, I got a bit distracted," he admitted, embarrassed over the situation. "I'm really sorry about that, and I'm sure the others are too."

"It's okay, bro."

"I did look around for you after the four of us parted ways, but I couldn't find you."

"Oh, I was walking all over Ocean Shores," he answered quickly. "Now, what's going on? I need some answers! It's driving me crazy!" If he didn't get the answers he wanted soon, Roderick felt that he was going to collapse from all of the stress of the situation.

"Have a seat," Sam quietly instructed.

Roderick made himself comfortable on Sam's bed. "Otto and Twister didn't _really_ fight each other, did they?"

Sam shook his head, and Roderick sighed out in relief. "Reggie kept the two from fighting. She pretty much told Twister it wasn't worth it to fight, even though I could tell that she was trying to convey that message to Otto as well. Either way, it was really difficult to keep the two from practically whomping each other. I was holding back Otto, while Reggie tried to hold back Twister, and _both_ are strong."

"At least they didn't fight, but what happened that has them all so tweaked?"

"Well, as you witnessed, Reggie, Otto, and Twister all had confrontations amongst one another." Roderick nodded. "Otto was angered at Twister and Reggie for leaving without informing us, but there was actually more to it.

"Otto had been treating Twister quite unfairly for weeks now. He was that way even after he apologized to everyone for his attitude weeks ago at that surf competition at Spray Beach. He never really came right out and apologized for his actions towards Twister, and until today, I never realized just how much colder Otto had been towards him since then.

"I've been pretty much thinking back to instances where Otto seemed the meanest towards Twister, and I have finally come to a conclusion..."

"What's that?" asked Roderick eagerly, literally on the edge of his seat.

"He doesn't approve of Twister's relationship with his sister."

"What? That's crazy! Why wouldn't he? Reggie is happy and so is Twister."

"I took that into account as well. Otto is more than likely bothered that his 'best bro' would rather spend time with his sister than with him. It's always been those two. Even when _I _moved here, I would usually hang around with Reggie, since we had the same classes, and Twister would still spend the majority of his time with Otto. To him, Otto was the coolest person ever. I guess you could say that Twister idolized him, but since they've gotten older, Twister's been thinking otherwise. The only person on his mind now is Reggie.

"I came to that conclusion by thinking back to times be_fore_ the surf competition. Twister seemed to film Reggie more than he would Otto. He also seemed to go out of his way to hang around her more instead of him. I'm sure it was subconsciously done on his part, though.

"After that surf competition, Reggie and Twister started to get closer, and Otto began to grow colder and more distant with Twister. Then, it happened! The two finally came out and told us that they'd been officially a couple in secret, and Otto, apparently, just couldn't take it. From that point forward, Otto's been quite indifferent towards both of them, and it was probably annoying him terribly since he was probably feeling lonesome without his best bud by his side.

"Today was the straw that broke the camel's back, and he blew up, letting his temper get the better of him, and when Otto's mad, there's no room for logic in his mind until he cools off, but who knows when that'll be."

The younger boy was awestruck with Sam's deduction. "How did you figure all that out? It's like you did research on O-man!"

"Observation. I'm taking Psychology this year to fill up my schedule, so I've been reading from various psych books every night before bed."

"So...you think Otto is jealous over the attention Reggie gets from Twister?"

"That's pretty much it."

"Hm...weird," the boy murmured while rubbing his chin. "So what happened after I left, and how come all three of them seem to be upset with you?"

Sam frowned. "Well," he began exasperatingly, "Otto kept accusing Twister and Reggie of spending too much time together and for 'ditching' their 'friends', and of course both Twister and Reggie denied that. I was trying my best to get everyone to understand the other person's point of view, so I partially agreed with Otto about how the two _do_ spend a lot of time together. It's somewhat true. Ever since those two became an official couple, Reggie's been hanging around with me less, so I guess I sympathized with O-man a bit. Because of this, Otto beamed, while Twister fumed, just like Reggie did.

"I spent the entire time trying to explain myself, and how Otto was feeling and vice-versa for Twister and Reggie. They're a couple now, so of course they'll want to be alone sometimes, and how we shouldn't really interfere with that, and that's when Otto got mad at me for sticking up for the 'traitor' and his 'ex-sister'.

"The entire argument was stupid and faulty if you ask me, and could've been easily avoided if Otto would've just talked with them instead of letting the tension build week after week, or either he could have put himself in Twister's position. I'm sure if a girl he was interested in felt the same way as he did and he began to date her, he'd spend more time with her at times than with his best buddy." Sam shook his head. "Wait, I _know_ so," he then muttered in undertone, "even though it's obvious who the girl is on Otto's mind anyway..."

"Whoa, what'd you say, Sammy?"

"Nothing," he replied quickly. He didn't want to get on the subject of his having suspicions that Otto could possibly have a liking towards Twister's older cousin, Clio. Just like how he noticed Twister having an attraction towards Reggie, he noticed the way Otto acted whenever Clio was around. He'd show off, but it was way more than usual as he seemed to really really want her attention. Sure Otto showed off, but not to the extent he did whenever it came to Clio. Sam always found that a bit strange and wondered if there was more to it.

Sam cleared his throat and continued. "After all was said and done, all tweaked at me for voicing my opinion, since I did partially lose my cool with them, we split ways. Twister took off someplace with Reggie, who seemed extremely annoyed, and believe me, when she's mad about something, she's scarier than Otto. Rocket Boy headed back down to the beach with his surfboard. I went off in search of you, which included the Shore Shack, and I found out a couple of things."

"What did you find out?"

"Reggie and Twister weren't ditching us, which I figured from the beginning anyway since it's unlike them, especially Reggie. Tito explained it all to me. He said that Reggie left a message for us about how she and Twister were going to head over to Madtown, and for us to join 'em later after surfing. Reggie didn't want to drag us away from surfing because, and I quote, 'Rod was having too much fun'."

'Wow, sis did that?'

"This entire situation has been _completely_ blown out of proportion."

"Yeah, it sounds like it really has been, but what can we do to get everyone back on good terms with each other? How can we get Otto to accept the fact that Twister and Reggie are still the same, even if they _are_ a couple now? What are we going to do about them talking to you again?"

"They're all too stubborn to admit they were wrong," Sam stated simply with a sigh. 'Otto's always been stubborn, and Reggie is stubborn too, just not on the same level as Otto. Must be a Rocket thing. With Twister, he's questionable, but he can be stubborn when he wants to be.'

"I'm not so sure about that."

"What do you mean?"

"Otto's stubborn, we all know that, and I'm not so sure about Reggie, but I know Twister misses you _and_ Otto. Every time he talked about how mad he was at Otto, it always seemed strained. When I asked about you, he just said he didn't want to talk to or about Otto anymore. He didn't say anything like that for you at all. I bet if you tried talking with him, he'd actually listen."

"You're more than likely right. He's always been that way, pretty friendly towards those he considers important, and as Reggie says, caring. I bet this is affecting him most of all, Otto giving him the cold shoulder the way he has."

"It's still weird...how could O-man get _that_ jealous if Twister still acts the same, just like sis does?"

"Well, Otto does like being the center of attention, and I guess since Twister's been spending more time with Reggie, and how she's been spending more time with him, he's feeling a bit left out. He's lost some of his sister's attention and his best friend's."

"I guess I understand what you mean." The boy stretched and rose from his seat on the bed. "Well, I better get going, Sammy. I don't want to worry anyone." He stopped to think for a moment, and finally said, "Thanks for your analysis of the situation."

Sam gave him a humorous smile. "You're welcome."

He headed towards the door, when he stopped and turned back around. "Oh, Sam, mind if I ask you another question?"

"Shoot."

"Do you know a kid named Mackenzie?"

Sam started to shudder fearfully after hearing the name. He started to twiddle his thumbs nervously. "Wh-what does she look like?" Roderick described the girl to him. He shook again. "Wh-what about her?"

"Oh, so you _do_ know her?

He nodded shakily, and barely muttered out, "We _all_ do."

"What's wrong, Sam?"

The boy gulped and looked around cautiously, as if checking to make sure no one was watching or monitoring him. He took in a deep breath, and answered, "She's the scariest thing in _all_ of Ocean Shores!"

"Scary how?"

"If you don't do what she says, she'll give you a fat lip, whomp you, or do something even _worse_!"

"Really?" Roderick wasn't too convinced.

"I remember when _I _first met her." Sam started to go a bit white as he recalled the tale. "She whomped Twister, punched out Lars, and was only _five_ at the time!"

"She beat up Lars and Twister at five years old?"

"Yeah, it was scary! Even _Lars_ won't mess with her, and he doesn't seem like the type who'd be scared of anything.

"Mackenzie pretty much runs everything, and if you don't let her, goodbye consciousness or hello stomachache!" Just thinking about that, caused Sam to breathe a bit unsteadily. He took out his inhaler and started to huff on it.

'Hmm, so _that's_ why all of those people seemed to be afraid of her. If she doesn't get her way, she pretty much hurts the person. Those aren't threats, she literally does what she says, but if that's the case, why did she act so differently around me? Mack can't _really _be that bad, can she?'

"So," he set his inhaler down beside his keyboard, finally calm, "why'd you ask about her?"

"No reason. I have to go. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow."

"What are your plans for tomorrow?"

He shrugged. "You know, just stuff," he answered vaguely, not wanting to freak the blonde out over how his plans actually involved Mackenzie.

"Well, okay Rod, but if you want to hang out any time tomorrow, just call me on my cell. You do have the number, right?" He nodded. "Alright then, I'll talk to you later, and try not to worry over Otto and the others right now. They're all bound to come around sooner or later...hopefully, sooner."

With that Roderick made his way out of Sams's bedroom and ended up passing by the kitchen, where Mrs. Dullard was pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"Bye, Mrs. Dullard," the boy told her as he saw himself out.

"Bye-bye, Roderick!" she called back.

When he opened the front door, he saw a big man wearing a blue Hawaiian shirt, a pair of khaki pants, which was a surprise to the boy since he usually lived in shorts, and a pair of brown sandals. "Well, aloha!" the man greeted heartily. "You have good timing, 'lil cuz."

"Oh, hi Tito. No work?"

"Nope, we decided to close up early. We had to since Reggie still isn't quite herself," he then whispered to him, "and that's not very good for business." He went back to his normal tone of voice. "Bruddah Ray wanted to have a father-daughter talk with her to try and figure out what the problem is. I wished him good luck."

"Oh."

"Is Paula still around?"

Roderick wondered why Tito sounded nervous and why he had his right hand stuck in his pocket, almost like he was grasping something, the entire time he'd been there. "Yes, she's here. She's in the kitchen."

"Ahh, th-thank you cuz."

He walked into the house. Roderick waved him off, and headed home.

'So Mac knows them; I think I'll use that to my advantage. Maybe she can help me figure out a way to get the gang back together.'

He smiled over the thought of Mackenzie helping him, doing something nice for a change, as he entered the Rodriguez home. He was planning on killing two birds with one stone: getting Otto and the others back on speaking terms, and civilizing Ocean Shores' local bully. He figured that he will be a good friend to her, and show her that there _are_ better ways of communicating and getting things besides threatening...


	13. Twister's Decision

I apologize, once again, for taking so long to update this. I became a bit distracted, I'm afraid. Either way, I'm glad that you all are still reading this, and I do appreciate your reviews. They are highly anticipated.

Okay, now let's get down to business. For this chapter, just as the title suggests, Twister is contemplating whether or not he should just apologize to Otto for upsetting him so that they could be friends again since he truly does miss the friendship they once had. I will warn you though, I felt that Otto, for this chapter was a bit out of character. I honestly couldn't see Otto acting in this way even if he is mad, but please bare with me. He'll go back to his normal likeable self sooner or later.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 13: "Should I apologize?" Twister's Decision...

The next morning, Twister awoke bright and early. While thinking about how things had gone with Otto, he'd fallen asleep earlier than he'd meant to. He sighed as he stretched and rubbed the sleep away from his eyes. He glanced over at his alarm clock, which he never set during summer vacation, and saw that it was a little before 9:00.

He rose from his bead, and made his way across the hall sluggishly to the bathroom to shower. He was still trying to comprehend what had happened the previous day. Did it really happen? Were he and Otto officially no longer friends? Was there nothing left of their friendship to even attempt salvaging? These thoughts played throughout the redhead's mind while he showered. When done, he headed back to his room to dress. Everything just seemed so unreal. He and Otto had been friends for pretty much forever. They were amigos in preschool, they were the best of buds in elementary school, kept the principal on his toes in junior high school with the mischief they would sometimes cause, and had hung together loads of times during high school. The two were generally inseparable.

'What happened to us?' Twister sadly wondered, as he made his way down to the dining area. No one was around. His mother and father had already left for work, and Lars was either out to catch a few early waves, or either still asleep. That still left the guest of the house, who would usually be awake at that time.

He ran back upstairs and knocked on Roderick's door, but he didn't get an answer. He knocked again, still no answer. Growing worried, he opened the door, hoping beyond hope that the boy hadn't collapsed or anything serious of that nature. He saw that the room was nice and neat, no Roderick in sight. On the nicely made bed, there was a note which was written in an extremely steady, neat hand. Twister picked it up. It read:  
x x x

_Dear Twister,_

_I had some things I wanted to do today up at the Pier, but I didn't want to bother you, so I let you sleep in. I hope you don't mind. Yesterday you said you were going to hang out with Reggie, and I didn't want to get in the way. I'll catch you later, bro. Hope to see you around the Pier._

_Roderick  
_

x x x_  
_

Twister folded up the letter and stuffed it into his pocket. So Roderick had left him behind so that he could sleep. "How generous," he sarcastically muttered. It felt strange not having Roderick around, and was a bit mad at himself for, in a way, running him off. Noticing the time, Twister decided to go see what Reggie was up to. He really felt the need to talk to someone, and he also wanted to show her Roderick's note. The entire situation was a strange one, and Reggie was usually the voice of reason, as was Sam.

The feeling he had in the case of Otto, though, was extremely confusing. He felt angered towards him for the way he'd been treating him for the past few weeks, but at the same time, he wasn't mad _at_ him. How could he be both mad and not mad at the same time? He recalled how last night he'd told Roderick how he didn't want to have anything to do with Otto, but he didn't fully mean it. Otto was his best friend; he wanted to hang out with him, like they'd done various times in the past.

He walked across the cul-de-sac and up to the Rockets' front door. He rang the bell, and within a matter of mere moments, the door was answered by...Otto.

"Hey Ottoman," Twister greeted friendly out of habit. Even though he was mad at him, he sometimes forgot to be angry, like how he had run up to greet Otto when he showed up at Spray Beach for the surf competition weeks back.

"What do _you_ want?" Otto asked him fiercely.

"Um, I-I was wondering if Reggie was home," he muttered timidly.

"Yeah, so what if she is?"

"I want to talk to her."

"Talk to her later," he snapped, his eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses in pure abhorrence.

"C'mon man, I-I-I'm s-" he stopped abruptly. No, he wasn't going to apologize to him. He'd done nothing wrong and had no reason to apologize. Apologizing and Otto didn't seem to mix when Otto truly felt he was right, and Twister knew that better than anyone. "No! You're not the only one who lives here! I have a right to talk with Reggie just as much as-as-as..." he thought for about a second, and blurted out, "...as my brother does!" Twister blinked in stupidity. 'Did I just say that?'

Otto rolled his eyes and sighed in slight irritation. "Are you finished?"

"Let me see her!" the boy demanded.

Otto stared at him harder, and crossed his arms. A sneer made its way to his narrow tan face. "Tell it to someone who cares, _Mau_rice. Get away from my house before I force you away."

"Why won't you let me see Reggie?"

"I don't know what she would see in a loser like you. You're dumb as a post, lame as a mug, your singing is like listening to a cat drown, and you couldn't make a decent video if your life depended on it."

Those words hit Twister hard. He'd never been spoken to by Otto so harshly in all of his life. It was like Otto had stuck a knife in him, and with every insult, would turn it more and more so that the pain would take more effect. Twister wasn't angered, but infuriated, sad, and depressed all at the same time. He wanted to make amends with Otto, but after saying such things, he wasn't sure if he could bring himself to even initiate it.

"Go away! I don't _ever_ want to see you around here again, _trai_tor!"

He still couldn't bring himself to say anything, due to his distress. After a short moment, he darkly uttered, "Take that back."

Otto shook his head smugly, and gave him an arrogant smirk, as if he'd just won this one-sided argument.

"I'm serious, Otto! Take back what you said!" His temper was starting to rise.

He shook his head again, and yawned as if bored with Twister's threats. "I'm not going to take back anything, now get the hell out of here! You're _not_ going to see Reggie."

"LET ME _SEE_ HER!" he ordered again, his temper about to reach its peak.

"Look, you might as well face the facts. You're no good, and my sister deserves better than someone like you." Twister was now shaking, both his fists clutched so tightly, that his knuckles were going white. "You can't even spell your own name right unless you have help."

Before Otto could get another word out, he heard someone call out angrily, "Otto Rocket!" With his guard down, Twister punched Otto right in the face at the same exact time he was called. Otto had turned his head at the moment to see who had called his name, when the hit occurred...


	14. The Intense Fight!

Alright, now this was more than likely to be expected, Otto and Twister getting into a fight, but will this fight actually resolve anything? Will they get everything out of their system and go back to being best bros again? I know you all are curious over the outcome, especially given the "quote" for this chapter, but you will soon find out.

In my opinion, towards the end of this incredibly short chapter, Otto comes across as being a bit more in-character to me. The only reason I had Otto acting as harshly as he did was pretty much just a plot device to get Twister bothered enough to actually want to fight him. Sorry for those who didn't agree with that method, but it was the only thing I could think of to do since, in my opinion, I couldn't see Twister fighting Otto unless seriously provoked. Have the two ever had a physical fight before? I know they've been upset with each other before, but never to the point of physically fighting. Oh well, there goes my thoughts on the matter.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 14: "I'm sorry, Reggie!" The Intense Fight!

The force of the punch caused Otto to fall back onto the floor hard. It also knocked his glasses clean off, and caused the left lens to pop out. When he opened his eyes, he got a better look at the person who'd called to him. He looked up to see Reggie staring down at him disapprovingly. He turned his attention away from his sister and back at the front door, which was still wide open, to see Twister's face twisted up in anger, with a bit of regret, but Otto hadn't noticed the regret.

The boy scrambled to his feet and charged after Twister, ready to beat him senseless, even if he _was_ holding back. He swung at Twister, landing a punch right in the taller boy's stomach. Twister doubled over, and coughed.

"Serves you right!" he shouted at the boy, while holding his sore cheek where Twister had managed to punch him. He had to remain angry if he wanted to pummel his best friend. Right now, Otto's cheek was a dark, bluish-purplish color, and throbbing in pain.

He stared up at Otto, and jumped him. He pinned him to the floor and started to swing at Otto. The boy tried his best to block off Twister's punches, but every once in a while, one would land a hit.

Otto managed to get out of Twister's clutches by pushing him away, and he stood, breathing hard. Twister was as well. Otto came at him again, and the fight resumed.

Reggie, at this point, was literally screaming at the two boys to stop fighting, but neither listened – or either they didn't hear her – as they continued to pummel one another. It was quite a sight, the two boys fighting right in the front doorway. Reggie just hoped no one would notice the commotion and peak in, like Mrs. Stimpleton. She knew she had to do something, so she ran over to Twister, to try and stop him from fighting and figured that it'd be easier to do so with Twister than with Otto.

'Man, he's strong,' the girl noted in thought. "Twist, please, stop," she pleaded. "Stop fighting, _both_ of you! Fighting never does any good!" She knew this was true, but also understood that there were exceptions, like in the case with Josh, who Otto had fought weeks ago after hurting Sam and talking badly about their deceased mother.

Twister, realizing Reggie was pulling on his arm, stopped preparing himself to hit Otto, who he'd just pushed away a moment before Reggie had finally gotten his attention, but this also left him open for attack since no one was holding Otto back. He pulled back his arm and aimed for Twister's face, but he tripped over a bump in the rug, and missed the cinematographer in training altogether, and accidentally hit Reggie right in the jaw, since she was right beside him. Everything had happened so fast, that Otto couldn't stop himself from attempting to hit Twister. He hadn't even noticed that Twister had stopped fighting _or_ that Reggie was even there.

The impact caused Reggie to fall to the floor, and her sunglasses flew off of her head, landing a short ways away from her. Otto's eyes went wide in horror after he realized what he'd done. Hitting girls wasn't cool, but that was beside the point. This was Reggie he'd hit. Forgetting that he was even sore at his sister, he rushed to her side, Twister being on the other, also a bit taken aback over what had just happened. He wasn't even concerned over his dispute with Otto, and vice-versa for Otto. Both were more so concerned over Reggie's well-being.

"Reggie, Reggie! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to...be okay, please!"

She coughed slightly, still somewhat dazed over the hit she'd just taken. Her brother was stronger than he looked. Her eyes were a bit teary, due to the stinging pain she now felt. She stood up with both boys' help.

"Reggie, are you okay?" both asked together in grave concern.

Otto was holding her right arm, while Twister held her left, but she jerked her right arm away violently. "Don't talk to me," the girl told him while trembling. Her eyes started to grow even heavier with tears, but not from the physical pain she was currently feeling, but the emotional strain Otto was now causing. "Don't _touch_ me!"

"R-Reggie," Otto's squeaked. It was interesting how after all these years, Otto still reacted in such a fashion when Reggie was literally upset with him. "I said I was sorry! I'm really really truly sorry! I didn't mean to hit you! I-"

"Just...go..." she barely uttered, looking in her brother's direction, refusing to let him finish. She held her jaw with her right hand, a warm thick metallic-tasting liquid forming her in her mouth. She was bleeding. Twister looked panicky and didn't know what to do. "Please," she felt herself about to cry, "just go..."

Otto respected his sister's wishes, and didn't want her any more distressed than she already was. He picked up his now broken sunglasses, strapped on his helmet and pads, stepped into his sneakers, and skates off dejectedly on his skateboard, but before going, he apologized again. She didn't even look at him.

This pained Otto terribly, as he left her. 'Reggie, I'm sorry. I'm really _really_ sorry...'


	15. Forgetting All About Ottoman

Even though it seems no one had a problem with Otto's character, I still found that a bit surprising. I just felt that his character was being much too harsh, especially in chapter 13. Oh well, not much I can do about that now, can I?

Now, this chapter just shows the aftermath of the fight, and both Reggie and Twister trying to figure what to actually do. Both are very distraught over their situation with Otto, but for the moment, they don't want to think about him and focus on him later on. I hope that makes sense. It's like they want a break from reality before having to face it again. The next chapter marks the return of Roderick and Mackenzie.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 15: "What do we do?" Forgetting about Ottoman...

After Otto had taken off, Reggie slowly made her way back upstairs. Twister followed slowly behind her, unsure of what to actually do. Once at the top, he saw the girl enter the bathroom and head to the sink. Twister watched her from the hallway, as he saw her turn the water on. Reggie splashed the cool water on her warm face to help rid herself of the tears that had stained it. Twister continued to quietly watch her as she gargled some water to get rid of the bloody metallic taste out of her mouth.

After a moment or two, Reggie started to pat her face dry with a big fluffy red towel, and to remove her long, wet bangs from out of her face. At this particular moment, Twister finally got the nerve to go up to her. "Reggie?"

She didn't say anything and tossed the towel aside. She exited the bathroom and walked right past Twister to her room. To Twister, she looked like she was going to cry. He followed her almost absentmindedly. She sat down on her bed while Twister hesitantly entered the room. She stared up at the freckle-faced boy, her eyes red. "Twister, I don't want you to see me right now," she choked out while trying to hold back some more sobs.

"Why?" he asked wearily.

"I-I don't want you to see me like this." The lump in her throat was aching more and more by the moment, and holding back was becoming more difficult.

"See you like what?" he asked lightly as he sat down next to her. He partially winced. His stomach still hurt from when Otto had punched him, and he also now had a black eye.

She turned her head away from him. "I don't want you to see me crying like this," she quietly admitted. She didn't have anything against crying, but she really hated doing so in front of Otto or the other guys. She never wanted them to think less of her or possibly view her as weak or particularly girly because of it.

"I don't care about that," Twister told her confidently with a lopsided grin. "I still like you. You're still the same old Reggie Rocket. Who cares if you're crying. You, like, kinda have a reason to."

She gave him a weak smile. She appreciated what he was trying to do, but even there was truth in his words, she still couldn't help but feel emotionally distraught over her brother as well as depressed. She shed a few more silent tears, and murmured, "What happened to all of us?"

He sighed and looked down at the shaggy carpeted floor. "I wish I knew, Rocket Girl."

"I was heading downstairs to talk with Otto. I was hoping that we could settle things and go talk with you and Sammy, but when I heard him say those terrible things, I shouted at him...and then all that stuff happened..."

"I was coming over to do something like that too. I wanted to talk to you about everything. I guess...a part of me wanted to forgive him, because I started to do that, but when he wouldn't let me talk to you, I stopped."

She sniffled, and took notice of Twister's bruise. "Twister, your eye..."

"Don't worry about it, Rocket Girl."

"You should fix it up."

Before the boy could protest, she headed back to the bathroom to the medicine cabinet, and returned with a first aid kit. She knew a bit about first aid care, having grown up with Otto, who'd injured himself countless times due to his recklessness, and right now, she knew that for Twister's injury, he definitely needed iodine. Reggie took out a gauze pad and a copper-colored bottle. She poured the contents onto it and started to pat the boy's sore eye. He flinched from the slight stinging sensation he now felt.

"Try not to move so much." He nodded as best as he could. "Maybe you should hold it there." He nodded again and took the iodine-filled gauze pad and held it on his eye, while Reggie retook her seat beside him.

"R-reggie," he put down the gauze pad, "how are you feeling? Are you sure you're alright?" He lowered his voice and started to fumble with his hat, something he always seemed to do whenever uneasy or nervous over something. He wasn't sure how to talk to her. "I mean, since, you got, like, well...hit...and stuff..."

"I'm fine, I just don't want to talk with Rocket Boy for a while."

Reggie's feelings were completely mixed. Why wasn't she furious at her brother? She figured that maybe it was because she knew that Otto would never purposely hurt her. He did seem sorry – not to mention extremely worried – after he'd struck her, and it _was_ an accident. She still couldn't figure it out, though, and sensed that maybe Twister felt the same way. To her, he didn't seem nearly as mad as she figured he would've been after he'd hit her. She needed confirmation.

"Twister," she began slowly, "how do _you_ feel...about Otto?"

He put his cap back on, and returned the gauze pad to his eye. He shifted uneasily from the question and shrugged. "I really don't know, Rocket Girl. I'm mad at the things he said to me today, but at the same time I'm not because the _real_ Otto Rocket would never act that way. He's mad about something and his temper just got really bad or somethin'."

"Then why did you fight him?"

"I wasn't thinking?"

"Not _think_ing?"

"Um, it's a guy thing?"

For some reason, that answer caused the girl to faintly smile. "That's not a very good excuse either."

"Maybe not, but it's true. Fight now," he chuckled in spite of himself, "think later."

Thinking back to the fight, caused Reggie to shed tears again. "We have to do something. I don't like Otto like this. I just wish I would've noticed his change and then I could've talked to him to get down to the root of the problem."

"You know how O-man is; he keeps everything to himself sometimes and likes to do things on his own."

"I know, I know, it's just...we've never been this way before!"

Twister rose from his seat. The entire conversation was growing depressive. "So, um...er...Reggie, do you want to go out someplace? My treat."

"I'm not really in the mood for a date, if that's what you're aiming for, Twist, and look at my face! It looks terrible with this big bruise on it!"

"W-well, we could just hang out around here if you want. We could watch those videos you rented the other night to show Rod."

Reggie thought for a moment, and then stood up. She hugged the boy tightly and was grateful that he was there. "Yeah, I'd like that a lot..."

The two left her room and headed back down to the living room to get the surfer off of their minds, even though it was really to avoid what was really nagging them both, how either was going to face Otto again...


	16. Mackenzie's Solution!

Well, now that Twister and Reggie are out of the way, we can get back to the other characters, such as the rowdy, yet wise, Roderick Vandenack, and the temperamental Mackenzie Duncan.

Now, for this chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Just as the title suggests, Mackenzie gives Roderick a "solution" to his current predicament. This _is_ Mackenzie, though, so it was to be expected. There really isn't much she can say without it actually coming across as a threat. You'll see what I mean as you read this.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 16: "Just _whomp_ them already!" Mackenzie's Solution...

"Good morning," Roderick friendly greeted while adjusting his Dodger's cap. The sun was shining brightly, and he wanted to block his bright brown eyes from it. He'd promised to meet Mackenzie at the Pier entrance at 10:00, but it was now about 10:20. He'd left home earlier at 8:00 with Mr. & Mrs. Rodriguez. Mr. Rodriguez drove him up before heading off to work himself.

To kill the couple of hours he had until Mackenzie was to show up, he decided to spend his extra time at the Shore Shack, and offered to help them out. Both Ray and Tito were a bit reluctant at first, since they didn't want him to overexert himself, but they, eventually, gave in. Tito also prepared some breakfast burritos, and Roderick helped him and had some himself. He also helped to bus some of the tables. While there, he also found out what Ray had discussed with Reggie...nothing. She obviously didn't share anything with Ray, since Ray was questioning Roderick if he knew anything. Not knowing what to particularly say, he told Ray, "Sis'll come around sooner or later." Tito had pretty much said the same thing.

"Yeah, hi," the girl muttered as she made her way towards him. She was wearing a yellow sleeveless shirt, dark pink shorts, which came down to her knees, a pair of bright, white sandals, and her hair was tied back in a single ponytail. "What do you want to do today?"

"Hm, well, Mac, how about whatever it is you'd like to do."

"Mac?" the girl questioned.

"Well, um, yeah; it's okay to call you Mac, isn't it? I always call my friends by a nickname. You can call me Rod, you know."

"Wh-whatever," the girl stammered, unable to give a coherent answer. He was still going on about the friend thing, which was just strange to her. "Anyway, I say we go to, um...the _Secret Spot_!"

"Cool! Twist and the others have _never_ taken me there, even though I think I remember hearing Twister mention it one time, but never mind! It sounds like fun! What's it like?"

She shrugged. "It's okay."

"Um," he scratched his nose bashfully, "what exactly _is_ the 'Secret Spot'?"

"It's a secret," she winked with a sneer, "and only the Rockets, Tito, and those two lame-os, Twister and Sam, know about it."

"Wait," he eyed her suspiciously, "if it's a secret only the Rocket family knows, how come _you_ know about it?"

"I overheard Twister and Sam talking about it one time," Mackenzie bawled up her right fist and started to punch the air, "and after Twister left, I threatened to whomp that blonde Squid to tell me where it was, and the next time they went, I just tagged along."

The girl pompously laughed, which caused Roderick to cringe slightly. This girl was fe_ro_cious! "So...that's nice," he answered slowly. "What's at the Secret Spot and how do we get there?"

"Bus," she stated simply. A somewhat worried and concerned look unintentionally made its way to the young girl's face. The trip to the Rockets' Secret Spot was a bit unexpected, since she did just think it up on the spur of the moment. 'I wonder if he has enough for the bus. If he doesn't, I guess we could ride our bikes there. I wonder if he even _has_ one.'

"I should have enough for the bus fare," he slyly grinned, "if you're worried."

"Wh-what?" she responded, taken aback since he had somehow managed to read her mind. "I don't worry about _any_one!"

He continued to grin. She was amusing him due to her denying the obvious. "If you say so."

The girl "hmmphed", and decided to get off of the subject of her possibly caring about his well being. "The next bus should be coming at 10:30 and it goes all over Ocean Shores. What time is it now?"

He looked down at his digital wristwatch. "It's 10:25. Is the bus we're going to take the one that stops off at the Pier?"

"Yeah, we're right by the stop."

"Cool! At least we won't have to wait long."

'Does he _ever_ calm down?'

Just as Roderick had pointed out, the wait for the bus wasn't long. It arrived at 10:30 on the dot. Once the two boarded, and paid the fare, some people gasped and started to move to other vacant seats, if they were available, while tourists and "shoobies" looked on in confusion over the locals' actions. The bus driver erratically announced to the passengers through his microphone, as if a reminder, that Mackenzie had boarded, and to "let her sit wherever she wants". This confused the tourists even more so.

"No thank you sir," Roderick loudly declared. "We'll sit wherever there is a vacancy." He looked to Mackenzie, waiting for her to protest, but instead, she remained quiet, and just nodded absentmindedly. Her mind was obviously elsewhere. "Mac?"

"Oh, what? Y-yeah, whatever."

The bus finally pulled off while the two looked for a spot to sit. Roderick chose the seat behind the driver, as it was the closest vacant seat available. He sat down first, which meant that he had the window seat. Mackenzie stood there, and stared down at the boy. He started to hear fearful murmurs coming from behind him, like, "That boy's done it now!" and "What a kook to snake that seat from Mackenzie!"

"Why aren't you sitting?"

"_I_ wanted the window seat!"

"Why didn't you say so?" He was about to move, but decided not to right away.

"Well, when are you going to move so I can sit down?"

"There _is_ a way you can get me out of this seat," he told her calmly.

She was starting to grow annoyed. The passengers that knew of her were growing antsy, awaiting a fight. A young woman, who was seated nearby in the seat across the aisle from Roderick, actually shielded her young, four-year-old daughter's eyes, whispering to her, "You don't need to see this violence, sweetie."

Mackenzie huffed a bit, and sighed out exasperatingly. She knew what the boy wanted. "May I _please_ sit there?"

Roderick smiled proudly at her, like a teacher would to his pupil who had excelled on a school assignment. The locals were amazed that Roderick had come out of that situation unscathed. "Yes, you may." He stood and let her in.

After she sat down, she mumbled out, "thank you", low enough so that only he could hear her. She still wasn't used of saying things like "please" or "thank you".

"You're welcome."

The ride was a quiet one, and the bus had already made two stops. The reason for the silence, was due to Mackenzie's being distracted, gazing at the many things that seemed to just zoom by. Roderick was growing tired of the silence. He always hated taking trips where no one talked. It was just boring. The key element to any relationship, he felt, was communication. How could one be friends if there isn't much communication going on? He knew that's how misunderstandings occur.

"How long have you known Twister and the others?" he asked her abruptly.

"Huh, what?" she stuttered as she turned her attention away from the window.

"How long have you known Twister and the others?"

"Most of my life." She cackled evilly and rubbed her hands together. "Oh how I _love_ to make them squirm."

"R-right." He arched an eyebrow up at her. He wasn't even going to question her on the relevance of her statement. "So, how well do you know Twister and Otto?" He figured that having an outside, unbiased opinion would be beneficial in his quest of getting the two back on friendly terms.

"I know enough to see that those two are the best of friends, even though I don't see them hanging out together as much anymore."

"Well, they're both a little mad at each other right now."

She scoffed and crossed her arms. "What could those two idiots be tweaked about? Did Otto lose to Twister in a sport again or something?"

"Wait...what? What do you mean, 'again'?"

"It's no secret around here. Otto hates to lose to anyone. I don't remember it too well, but years ago, I know Twister beat Otto at something...I think it was a luge race, but Otto cheated to win it. I'm not sure what actually happened, but I heard that Otto ended up doing another unofficial race with Twister, which he won, and Otto gave him the trophy and the two were friends again. It was only rumors and I never cared to learn more about it, but it would explain why Twister has the trophy. Ah, maybe it wasn't a big deal at all, but like I said, Rocket Boy hates losing. Other than that, I don't see why they would be mad at each other. Why _are_ they mad at each other?"

"Well, it's not because of a sport. It's..." he stopped. He really didn't want to explain the whole thing of Otto being jealous over the lack of attention he was getting from both Reggie and Twister theory that Sam had. Not right then and there anyway. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to reveal it to her.

"It's what?"

"Never mind." He sat up in his seat to get more comfortable. "I'm just trying to get those two to be friends again."

She randomly began to punch the back of the driver's seat, alternating each punch, which caused the bus driver to shudder. "Anyway, you know that karate stuff," she punched the seat harder, the driver still quivering, "beat 'em to a pulp until they promise to stop acting stupid!"

Roderick stared at the girl incredulously. '_Why_ is this girl so violent?'

She stopped punching the back of the driver's seat, much to the driver's relief. "How come you take all that karate stuff anyway?"

Roderick's expression showed slight distraught, and his demeanor lost some of its bright optimism. He definitely didn't want to get into that, as it was much too depressing, and felt that if he did get into it, Mackenzie might act like some of the others, worrisome, although, one could argue that it was highly unlikely for a person like Mackenzie to worry much over anyone.

When the boy was eight, he suffered from leukemia, and when he was about ten, a brain tumor had developed, which caused him to undergo a series of treatments. Due to of his having to go through so many treatments, he had missed an entire year of school.

Although he was okay now, not necessarily healed, there was still that possibility that he just may relapse, and the adults (his parents and other family and friends), always tended to worry if he showed any type of signs of distress, especially since, from time to time, he would grow fatigued at times. The main reason for Roderick's studying karate was to make sure he got some kind of exercise on a regular basis, and to help keep his strength up.

"Well, _why_ do you take karate?" Mackenzie demanded of the spaced-out boy. The boy was usually quick to volunteer information, and found it odd that he had spaced out in the first place.

"To have something to do," he uncharacteristically answered dully.

The red-haired girl gave him a look, as if studying him. He was _definitely_ hiding something. As much as she wanted to pry, she decided to leave it alone...for now.

"So, do you have any _good_ ideas as to what can be done to get them to talk to each other?"

"Beating them up isn't?"

He shook his head. "Of course not."

"How about threatening them?"

"No, they should go back to being friends because they want to, not because someone is going to beat them up if they don't."

"That's no fun," she grumbled stubbornly. "I still say a good _whomp_ing'd set those two straight," she muttered.

"Why do you like to fight so much anyway? Most people prefer to avoid conflict, but you seem to enjoy attracting it."

Mackenzie's stubborn expression turned to that of a surly one. "B-because it's my way!" she pertinently insisted. 'What right does _he_ have asking me something like that?' She really didn't want to admit why she actually bullied everyone, as there were quite a few factors, one of those being attention.

Roderick sensed that there was definitely more to the girl's story, but decided not to get into it, but followed up on her response in hopes of keeping the subject open. "But _why _is it your way?" he asked sensibly.

"B-because it is!" she snapped back fiercely, which caused anyone near the two to jump.

"Whoa, I'm sorry!" Roderick humbly apologized. "I didn't mean to cause any trouble."

Mackenzie sighed as she went back to staring out the window. "No, I'm sorry..."

'She...apologized?' He couldn't believe his ears. The girl had apologized. Something even _he_ didn't think she would've been capable of. "Wait...why are you sorry?"

"Never mind," she mumbled.

"Anyway," the tension was growing much too awkward for the boy's liking, "do you have any ideas on how I can get those two to be friend again that doesn't involve violence?"

She rounded her attention back onto the baseball fan and shrugged. "Tell them they're being stupid."

"Without name-calling."

"What's left?"

He slightly groaned in exasperation. "Never mind."

"We're almost there," the girl uttered quietly.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but if this place is so secret, how come we can take the bus there?"

"Because this area is a tourist spot. This stop is just near the Secret Spot, though, so we'll have to walk there. It has a biking path too. It's still pretty secret, that particular area. It's rare to see any shoobies there."

"Oh, okay." He grinned. "I like hiking, and I love biking!"

'I bet you do,' the girl muttered sarcastically in thought.

With that, the bus came to a screeching stop. Mackenzie rose from her seat, Roderick taking suit, as well as some other passengers, and exited the bus...


	17. The Optimism of Sherry Chin!

Sorry I took so long to update this story. I know it's been a while. It's been almost three months, and just as a reminder to myself, I updated this fic last on March 10 (my cousin's birthday). Oh, and everyone have a safe, Memorial Day weekend.

Now, for this chapter, we return to Sam. He and Sherry are pretty much discussing what to do about Reggie and the others. Sherry is just as determined as Sam to get the group back on good terms.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 17: "Don't worry about Ottoman, I'll take care of him!" The Optimism of Sherry Chin!

Sam sat in front of his computer, staring at the blank screen dismally. He was still in thought over what to do about his three very best friends, not knowing what he could do for either of them, entirely. He stood and started to pace around his room, constantly checking the clock on his desk. It had barely been 30 seconds since the last time he'd checked it. He sighed again as he made his way to his bedroom window. He stared out of it to only find a bright, clear-blue sky, and a few birds flying about. It was definitely the perfect day for surfing and other aquatic or outdoor activities.

He went back to pacing. "Where _is_ she?" he muttered while going back to his clock.

He grew more and more tense as he awaited his guest, his nerves growing more immense. A few more minutes went by, when he finally heard it! The doorbell. He stopped pacing. He started to sweat some and his heart started to slightly race. He was home alone. His mother had left for work already. Sam calmed himself and breathed steadily. He rushed to the door, and opened it to find a girl with wavy blonde hair, silver-colored hoop earrings, wearing a dark-green tank-top which showed off her midriff partially, a pair of matching green shorts, and sandals.

"Hey, Sam," the girl greeted cheerily.

"Hi, Sherry," Sam greeted back politely, a hint of anxiety in his voice, "thanks for coming over." He stuck his head out the door, looking around.

"Like, what's wrong?" Sherry inquired, curious of the boy's actions.

"I thought you would've brought Trish along."

"Oh, she's hangin' with family today, so I'll just, like, fill her in later, when she can, like, get away from, 'em. She'll probably call me when she's free, since she did want to, like, hang this evening."

"Oh, okay." Sam stepped aside to let the girl in.

"So, what happened again?" Sherry asked after Sam had shut the front door. "All three went _aggro_ on you?"

"Totally," he nodded sadly. "I'm going to hold out trying to talk with Ottoman and Rocket Girl for now. I wouldn't mind trying to talk with Twist, though."

"Like, why Twister?"

"I don't think he's all that mad at me."

Sherry wasn't entirely satisfied with the answer. She crossed her slender arms and asked, once again, "But still, _why_ Twister? I thought he was just as tweaked at you as Otto was."

"I don't really think so now. I talked with Rod for a while last night, and with the way he was talking about Twister, I don't think he's actually mad at me. I think he was just mad over what happened in general, but has cooled off enough for me to attempt having a nice, rational discussion with him." Sam mentally shook his head. 'Never thought I'd live to see the day where I can have 'rational' and 'discussion' in the same sentence pertaining to _Twister_ of all people.'

"I hope you, like, know what you're doing, Sammy. What if Twist just busts on you?"

"Reggie, Otto, and Twister have been friends for virtually forever. They've been through pretty much everything together." Sam grew determined. "I can't let those three, Otto and Twister especially, throw away a lifelong friendship. Those two have way too much history together, so it's a risk worth taking!"

"Wow, you've really been thinking about this."

"Yes I have," he nodded vaguely. "Do you have any ideas for what can be done about Reggie?"

Sherry smiled and winked. "Just leave it to, like, Trish and me."

"Th-thanks, Sher," Sam stuttered over the sight of the radiant girl that stood before him.

"Sure thing. You shouldn't have to deal with this yourself." She shook her head in grave disapproval. "Otto and Twister can't stop being friends over something so stupid, like you were saying last night. It'd bum them both."

"Precisely! Glad you agree."

"So, like, what do we do now? Should I go try talking with Reg while you maybe go talk with Twister?"

"It would be better, I feel, if Trish was around so you won't have to by yourself, but-"

"Oh, it's no problem. We can go now. I go try talking Reg into talking to Otto, and you try talking Twister into talking to Otto."

"That's a very self-assured attitude you have Sherry," Sam complimented, "but what about Otto? I hadn't thought of what to do with him yet."

"Oh, don't you worry about cranky Ottoman," Sherry said with an evil grin, "_I'll _take care of him."

Sam shuddered since she was a bit scary, although, he found Sherry's display quite invigorating and admirable. "Okay then," Sam finally said, tearing his eyes off of the blonde. "Shall we approach them now, or would you like a bite to eat or drink first? I still have some of Tito's Coconut Lemon Mango smoothie mix in the fridge. All I have to do is put it in the blender and add ice."

"Ooo, that sounds good! How come the Shack doesn't sell them?"

Sam rubbed his chin. "You know, I have no idea. I guess Raymundo doesn't want to have them sold or something."

"Ugh, but he allows Pineapple Soup on the menu," Sherry groaned while holding her firm stomach, pretending to be in agonizing pain.

Sam laughed faintly. "Well, maybe Tito's never suggested the smoothies to be on the menu."

"I'd go with that theory before the first one," she said. "Okay, I'll take a smoothie, and then we're _both_ going to head over to, like, talk to Reg and Twist."

"Right!"

With that, the two headed to the kitchen for their icy tropical drinks...


	18. The Sleuthing Duo, Dullard and Chin

Wow, I know it's been a _long _time since I've updated this story, and I'm very sorry for it. I know I've lost readers for that reason, but I felt like going back to this regardless of that. Funny how the main ones I was writing this for, are "grown" now. lol Teenagers and all that now.

Anywho, I've actually been rewriting the previous chapters, and if you want, you can go back and read those. I corrected mistakes that I had in the previous chapters, cut some stuff out that I'd always meant to cut out, and added in stuff that I'd always wanted to include (such as Roderick using a nickname for Mackenzie). The original reason why I stopped with this fic was because of work and a partial writer's block, mostly on Roderick's part. I was having a tough time coming up with a solution to his problem, but I'm pretty much cool with that now since I just sat down and thought about it.

Now, for this chapter, as the title suggests, Sam and Sherry confront Reggie and Twister, but are surprised at what they find, naturally. Nothing much I can say beyond that, though. This chapter mostly focuses on Sam and Twister though, not so much on Sherry and Reggie, which you'll definitely see, and I hope you don't mind it.

Now, as always, I do not own anything dealing with the Rocket Power series or franchise. Klasky-Csupo has (had?) that honor, and as a reminder, here are the ages of the characters once again:

Oswald "Otto" Rocket: 16

Regina "Reggie" Rocket: 17

Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez: 16

Sammy "Stonewall" Dullard: 16

Lars "Whompinator" Rodriguez: 19

Roderick "Rod" Vandenack: 13

Mackenzie "Mac" Duncan: 12

Chapter 18: "What happened to you?" The Sleuthing Duo, Dullard & Chin!

Sam and Sherry finished up their smoothies, and started towards the Rocket and Rodriguez homes. Sherry suggested that the pair of them should confront each of them together as opposed to both of them doing so separately. When trying Twister's place, they didn't get an answer.

"Maybe Rod and Twist went up to the Pier," the stout blonde goalie pointed out.

With no luck there, they headed over to the Rocket home. Sam rang the bell…

Twister and Reggie were watching movies, when they heard the bell ring…

"I wonder who that is," Reggie queried.

"Maybe it's Raymundo."

Reggie laughed. "Why would he used the doorbell when he has a key?"

"Oh yeah…"

The wavy-haired girl stopped laughing abruptly.

"Yo, Reg, what's wrong?"

"I can't answer the door looking like this!"

"I'll answer it."

"What about your eye?"

"Who _hasn't_ seen me with one? Lars _is_ my brother," he laughed.

The two heard the bell chime again, and Twister hurried himself to the door. "Whoa, Sammy, Sherry."

"Twist, like, what happened to you? Your eye looks mondo gross!"

"Oh no," Sam shuddered, "did you get whomped by Lars?"

"Don't worry about it, you guys. What's up?"

"Sammy and I were looking for you and Reggie."

"Is Reggie here?"

"W-well, …um…y-yeah," he answered nervously. "We were watching movies."

"Cool!"

Sherry forced her way in with Sam right behind her, who shut the door. Twister didn't know what to do, so he stepped in front of the pair. "R-Reggie isn't feeling well."

"But you just said that the two of you were watching movies," Sam reminded him.

"N-no. What I meant w-was-was…"

"Forget it Twist! Like, you've never been good at lying." The girl stepped up to the tall, freckly-faced boy, and gave him a fierce, threatening look. "Like, what's _wrong_ with Reggie?"

"Well, she, I, we…um-"

"I'm fine, Sherry," a voice interrupted.

They saw Reggie walk up behind the flabbergasted Twister, bruise and all. Sherry gasped at the sight and rushed over towards her. "Reggie, like, what happened?"

"You look pretty bad, Rocket Girl."

"Thank you Sammy," Reggie dryly commented.

"S-sorry," he bashfully apologized.

"It's cool."

"I'm sorry too, Reg."

"It's okay, Twist," she smiled as best she could, "thanks for trying."

"Twister, Reggie…like what's going on?"

"I was embarrassed to be seen with this bruise, and Twister was just trying to cover for me."

"How'd you get that bruise?" asked Sam.

"W-well, I…ugh…fell…when out on the pipe this morning."

"Is _that_ all?" Reggie nodded. "Like, that's nothing. Some ice and makeup can fix that up!"

Sherry grabbed Reggie's hand, and headed up the stairs, while giving Sam a quick wink. Sam made his way towards the living room with Twister trailing behind. The blond plopped down on the couch, his mind still on Reggie's bruise.

"So, Squid, what's up?"

"You asked that already."

"I did?"

"Twister," Sam began direly, "what _really_ happened to Reg?"

"What d'ya mean?"

"That bruise of hers. How did she _really_ get it?"

"You heard her, she fell."

"You and I _both_ know that's not true. We've known Reggie and Otto for years, and for Reggie to get a bruise like that, she'd have had to face plant majorly, and even then, the two always wear protective gear."

"What's your point, Squid," asked an exasperated Twister.

"My _point _is that she couldn't have gotten that bruise from a skateboard fall due to where it is, without any other part of her face being affected."

Twister's eyes grew sad and he frowned. He turned his head away from his shorter friend in turmoil. "Just drop it, Squid. If Reg said she fell, then we should believe her."

Sam studied Twister and shook his head. 'He knows something, I'm sure of it. Reggie must've sworn him to secrecy.' Realizing he wasn't getting anyplace, he decided to get off of the subject. "So, how _are_ you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded slowly. "Yo, Squid…I mean…um…Sammy…um…about yesterday…"

He gave him a friendly smile. "It's okay, Twist."

Twister sighed out in relief and put out his hand for their trademark handshake, which Sam returned, but still wished that it was the four of them again.

"So, um, Twist," he began cautiously, "how do you feel about Otto?"

His face grew distraught. "I don't want to talk about him right now," he softly replied.

"I know Otto misses you, just like I know _you_ miss him! You, Otto, and Reg have been friends for too long to throw that all away now. Maybe you all should apologize for-"

"A_pol_ogize? After what _he_ did to Reggie? _He's_ the one who needs to apologize! You saw how hurt Reggie was!"

Before Sam could question him, Sherry and Reggie entered the room. Even though it wasn't often for the tomboyish girl to wear makeup, she did actually keep some around for those rare occasions where it might've come in handy or if she had to dress up for a function. Clio was the one who actually showed her which kind to get for her skin tone. Sherry had applied the make up for Reggie, but her face was still a little bit swollen in that particular area of her face, but it wasn't as dark anymore.

"Reggie still doesn't want to go out, and that's like a total bummer. Trish and the others were going to hang up at the Pier later on this afternoon, too."

"I don't mind staying in today, Sher."

"Still a bummer, though, especially since it's, like, so nice out today. Anyway, let's, like, go, Sammy. Twister, you better, like, take care of Reggie too!"

"R-right. No prob, Sherry."

With that, Reggie and Twister waved the two off, as they exited the Rocket home…


End file.
